


Poison on our Tongues

by ZahlzStar



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Heavily influenced by SourceFed, Podcaster AU, Tumblr AU, youtube au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-16 21:45:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 50,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5842084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZahlzStar/pseuds/ZahlzStar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carmilla and the gang are hosts for The Silas Channel, and Laura is a popular blogger. When Laura gets offered a job as a host at the Silas office, life gets a little more interesting. </p><p> </p><p>Or the one where I started watching a lot of SourceFed videos and decided I wanted the Carmilla nerds to be like the SourceFed nerds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Anything for a Fan

“Alright, as much as I hate to interrupt  your strange brand of foreplay, I’m getting the signal from Perry to wrap it up. I’m Carmilla Karnstein and you’ve been listening to another Silas Podcast. You can find me on most things @HeyCarmilla, and if you give them a minute to think about it these knuckleheads will tell you where to find them as well,” Carmilla announces after leaning into her mic, ignoring the glare and pout from across the table. 

“I’m Danny Lawrence, you can find me on Twitter and Tumblr @DLawrence,”

“This is Kirsch, you Bros can find me @ZetaK.”

“I’m Ell, @EllOL. That’s E Double L O L,”

“Thanks for tuning in guys, we’ll see you next time,” Carmilla finishes and watches for Laf to give them the thumbs up to say they are off the air.

“Great work, everyone. Carmilla,” Perry starts but Carmilla cuts her off.

“I’ll stop calling them ‘knuckleheads’ when they stop acting like knuckleheads, Mother Hen,”

Lafontaine and JP both chuckle from behind the camera and Perry just sighs before walking away to go check on one thing or another. 

“That was awesome, dudes. Is everyone still down to go hangout?” Kirsch asks, pulling away from the table and forgetting to take his headphones in his excitement. Danny sighs and reaches over to take the headphones off for him when Kirsch stretches the cord out and gets flung back. Carmilla rolls her eyes at the display but answers the man-child regardless. 

“Aren’t I always, Beefcake?” 

Kirsch grins at her and turns to the other host still seated at the table. 

“Sorry, babe. I’ve got to go sort out the venue for our offsite shoot next week,” Danny responds and smiles apologetically when Kirsch pouts again. 

“That’s okay, D-Bear. Offsite stuff is important,” 

“What about you, Ell-Dawg?” 

“Sorry, Kirsch. I’m out too, I’ve got some stuff I need to sort out for a new bit,” Ell answers and Carmilla frowns for a moment.

“I thought you had all of your bits done already?”

“It came up last minute, it’s no big deal,” Ell shrugs it off but Carmilla is still a little surprised. Perry usually made a point to ensure that everyone always had, at least, a day’s warning for new bits. 

“Tech dudes?” Kirsch turns his attention to behind the camera and both Laf and JP poke their heads around the side of the camera.

“I need to fix the lighting on the Couch Chats set, I’m afraid,” JP says but judging from the devious grin on Laf’s face, they are more than down.

“Who am I to break our weekly tradition?” 

Kirsch leaps up again, now free of his headphones gives Laf a high five. 

 

“The Three AmiBros are hitting the streets,” Kirsch crows as they head out of the office and Carmilla rolls her eyes so hard she feels a little piece of her soul go into it. 

“Why does he feel the need to call us that?” 

“It’s better than the time he called us ‘The Three Brosketeers’ the entire night,” Lafontaine points out and Carmilla cringes for a moment.

“I still think we should have gone by my idea,” 

“Well, yeah. ‘Science and Trauma’ is cool, but no one ever gets it. Well, besides Tumblr anyway,” 

“You like Science, and I like inflicting Trauma on the overgrown toddler. What’s not to get?” Carmilla argues and Lafontaine reaches over to pat her on the shoulder.

“You may just have to be happy with Tumblr on that one, buddy,” 

“Or, I could convince the Tech Geek I’m friends with to change our official group name on our Couch Chat videos?”

“You buy the first round of drinks and I’ll make it happen,” 

“Deal. God, I hope he doesn’t start with the Backstreet Boys again tonight,” 

 

~

“Backstreet’s back, alright,” Lafontaine drunkenly sings and Kirsch poorly, but enthusiastically tries to join in, resulting in a series of mumbled ‘da dada dada da’s. 

“Goddammit, Laf,” Carmilla grumbles as she helps the giant puppy to walk in a straight line down the street. The sidewalk is narrow enough as it is, so when Carmilla sees two people walking on the path ahead of them she starts to push Kirsch and subsequently, Laf, over to the side. Carmilla notices as the two approach that an extremely tiny girl is whispering excitedly to a significantly taller, older man, likely her father if the physical similarities between the two is any indication. The pair seem to be arguing as they get closer and the tiny girl shakes her head profusely. Despite giving them plenty of room, as they are right in front of the trio, the girl lets out a squeak and is shoved towards Carmilla. At the last second, Carmilla shoves Kirsch aside causing Lafontaine to stumble into the fence beside them at the sudden exchange of weight, and catches the girl before she falls. Carmilla steadies the girl and rather than be annoyed at the disruption she finds that the vibrant redness that has appeared on the girl’s cheek to be somewhat endearing. 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. You’re Carmilla Karnstein, like the Silas Channel host, Carmilla Karnstein. I’m a huge fan, and my dad knows that but I didn’t want to bother you so he shoved me into you. Oh God, I didn’t hurt you did I? He shoved me pretty hard, and I would feel so bad if I hurt you. You’re my favourite host, so that would be horrible. I mean, Lafontaine and Kirsch are cool too, and the Science and Trauma BrOT3 is the best but you’ve just got this whole dark and broody vibe,” the girl gushes before stopping abruptly and taking a slow, deep breath.

“Sorry, that was a lot of words and I got a little lightheaded for a second.”

“It most definitely was, and you clearly know who I am but I didn’t catch your name,” Carmilla is taken back by the sheer amount of words the girl could get out in such a short space of time. 

“Right, of course. I’m Laura, Hollis, I’m Laura Hollis,” 

“Laura Hollis, why does that sound familiar?” 

“Oh, um. I’m a blogger, kind of, and I’m sort of popular on Tumblr, so maybe that’s it?”

“That’d be it, Laura2TheLetter, right?”

Laura seems amazed at the prospect that she would have any knowledge of her channel, and simply nods her head, a dazzling smile appearing on her face.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Laura Hollis. I’m sure my friends would love to meet you as well but they aren’t quite themselves at the moment,” Carmilla responds, glancing over to where her friends are sitting on the ground and tugging at blades of grasses, quietly mumbling the song from earlier.

“That’s fine, they are cool and all, but I was actually hoping that maybe I could get a photo or two with you? I know it's kind of lame, and most people get autographs or something, but digital is more my kind of thing,” 

“It seems only fair, after all the trouble you’ve gone through,” Carmilla responds but Laura frowns before a look of horror crosses her face.

“Oh my God, I didn't mean to cause you trouble. I totally get it if you just want to go, I must look like such a creeper,” Laura begins to ramble again and Carmilla’s eyebrows lift to her hairline at the sudden change of direction.

“Hey, I was just kidding. It’s totally fine, I mean, anything for a fan right? Especially such a cute one,” 

 

Laura takes another calming breath and pulls her phone out from her pocket, “Okay, great. Let’s um, take some photos I guess,”

“Three photos enough to satisfy your fans, Sweetheart?” Carmilla asks as she steps closer to Laura. 

“Yeah, that would be great,”

 

With that settled, Laura reaches her arm out so that she can take the pictures. For the first Carmilla turns on her Seduction Eyes and Laura uses her other hand to point at the girl with a surprised, open-mouthed smile. For the second photo, Carmilla simply smirks at the camera and Laura gives another one of those smiles that honestly makes her look like sunshine incarnate. For the third photo, Laura smiles again and Carmilla takes the chance and leans over to press a kiss to her cheek. Laura lets out a squeak and after checking out the photos, Carmilla smirks at the surprised expression and the vivid blush across the smaller girl’s cheeks. 

“Right, so these are great. Thank you so much, my followers will love these,” Laura says after a moment before gesturing to her father standing nearby.

“I should probably let you go, I’m sure you are super busy,” 

“See you around, cutie,” Carmilla chuckles and watches as Laura meets up with her father again and socks him in the arm, no doubt for the shoving incident. After a moment, Carmilla turns back around and begins to help the giant on the ground rise to his feet. 

“Who was that?” Lafontaine asks after getting to their feet again.

“Laura Hollis,” Carmilla responds and Laf frowns, clearly trying to figure out where they had heard of the girl. 

“She’s that super popular blogger, right?” 

“That would be the one,” 

“She’s cute,” 

“She’s definitely something,” 

 

~

 

“Dudes, I think my keys ran away from me. I can’t find them anywhere,” Kirsch cries as he clumsily pats at his pockets in search of the missing keys. 

“Your keys didn't run anywhere, Titan. You gave them to me earlier, just like you always do,” Carmilla informs him has she pulls out his keys from her jacket pocket and lightly pushes him aside to unlock the apartment door. Danny gets up from the couch to greet them and Carmilla happily hands Kirsch over.

“Here you go, Xena. I’ve done my babysitting for the night,” 

“As usual, it is greatly appreciated, Wednesday,” 

“Oh and if he starts singing Backstreet Boys again you can blame, Laf,” 

“Guilty,” Lafontaine pipes up from the fridge, no doubt rummaging around for leftover pizza that never seems to run out in this place. 

“Uh, Backstreet is the worst,” Danny groans as Kirsch begins humming that painfully familiar song.

“Trust me, I know,” Carmilla replies and ignores the cry of victory coming from the kitchen. 

“Is Perry coming to pick you two up or did you want a ride home?” Danny asks and Carmilla shakes her head. 

“Mother Peresa is on her way,”

“Okay, that one was a stretch,” 

“Bite me, I’m hilarious,” 

“Mmhhmm,”

 

Carmilla rolls her eyes and flops down on the couch, glancing up as Danny leads Kirsch to their room.

“Come on, babe. Let’s get you to bed,” 

“You’re the best, D-Bear. I like totally love you more than beer,” 

“I love you too, you big idiot,” 

 

Carmilla shakes her head at the sappiness and pulls out her phone, tapping on the Tumblr app. After scrolling through her dashboard for a while, a thought crosses Carmilla’s mind and she bites her lip for a moment in contemplation before clicking on the search bar and typing in a few words. 

Sure enough, the Laura2TheLetter blog pops up and Carmilla taps on the screen, greeted by her own face beside Laura’s. The three photos from earlier already had a few thousand notes and she smiles a little at caption.

_ ‘So, look who I had the pleasure of running, or falling into, tonight. This awesome person just so happens to be my favourite Silas host, and she’s actually pretty nice in person too. Thanks @HeyCarmilla for taking the time to make this girl’s night,’ _

The tags below the post read both her name and the Silas Channel, but the tags that make her smirk read, _‘She’s so much prettier in person and those Seduction Eyes should be illegal. I think I need a cold shower. For perfectly innocent reasons of course.’_

 

Carmilla doesn’t hesitate to reblog the post and adds, _‘Red looks good on you, Cupcake. Enjoy your shower ;)’_

 

Carmilla continues to scroll through Laura’s blog for a while and takes notice that there are quite a few gifsets of her and a few of the other hosts during various videos and Couch Chats. Apparently Laura is quite the fan after all, and as Perry knocks on the door to announce her presence Carmilla taps the Follow button and closes out of the app. 

“I hope you’ve got some cookies or something at home, Betty Crocker. I'm in the mood for something sweet,” 

 

//

 

After returning home from a late night ice cream expedition with her dad, Laura had posted the photos she had taken with Carmilla and was pleased to see that there was already a couple thousand notes. From what she could see within the Laura Hollis tag, her fans were losing it. Who knew that the photos would cause such an uproar? It kind of reminded her of the time she uploaded a photo in her bikini a while back and was bombarded by posts saying that her abs were the work of God and had the potential to cause breathing problems.

 

Despite the constant stream of notifications, it was usually immensely entertaining to see what her followers were saying when they reblog her posts and Laura is scrolling through her notifications when she almost drops her laptop. 

_ ‘HeyCarmilla started following Laura2TheLetter,’ _

“Holy crap sticks,” Laura mumbles and taps on the notification to bring up Carmilla’s blog.

Instead of dropping her laptop, Laura simply pushes the laptop away and buries her head in her yellow pillow to hide her shame. After a moment, Laura peeks at her screen again and sure enough, the comment from HeyCarmilla remains the same. Laura reaches over cautiously and picks the laptop back up and places it in her lap, her cheeks flaming for like the fifth time tonight from Carmilla Karnstein’s antics alone. As Laura rereads the words over and over again the urge to defend herself becomes too strong. With probably a little more force than necessary, Laura unlocks her phone and opens up an ask addressed to Carmilla’s blog. 

_ ‘Okay, just for the record, I did not actually need to take a cold shower.’ _

 

Laura huffs after sending the ask and is surprised at how quickly she gets a response.

_ ‘Oh, so you found another way to relieve your tension? That’s cool too,’  _

 

Laura growls in annoyance at the response, easily picturing the smug look the other girl is no doubt sporting. 

_ ‘Uggh, you are the worst.’ _

_ ‘Oh dear, I thought I was “your favourite host”?’ _

 

_ ‘You are still the worst,’ _

_ ‘:)’  _

 

Laura closes out of the Tumblr app in frustration and feels and an entirely new wave of annoyance when she catches sight of the new lock screen she had set. The photo of Carmilla kissing her cheek seemed to mock her almost as much as the girl in the photo, and Laura looks at it for a moment longer before tossing her phone away from her.

“Worst crush ever,”

  
  
  
  
  



	2. Podcast Natural

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura gets an email and Carmilla has a video to shoot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little shorter, so I apologize for that. The reason being that I'm hopefully going to be updating my Alpha!Laura AU as well, and both are already later than I would've liked so I want to get them out. I hope you enjoy, and the next chapter should be out in a few days.

Laura has been a blogger for a while, so she’s no stranger to getting quite a few asks on Tumblr every day. The thing that Laura is surprised to find is that almost all of the asks have someone to do with Carmilla Karnstein. Even more concerning than that though, is the fact that Carmilla seems to have made it a point to add to as many of her asks and posts as possible.

 _‘Dude, you met Carmilla Karnstein?? That’s awesome,’_  
 _‘I guess I just got lucky,’_  
 ** _‘Not the sort of lucky I would have_** liked ** _though, sweetheart.’_**

 _‘Do you think you are ever going to meet up with Carmilla again? It would be amazing to see my two faves together again,’_  
 _‘I bumped into her by accident, really, so I don’t think I’m going to be seeing her too often, unfortunately,’_   
**_‘Unfortunate indeed,’_**

_‘How come you haven’t been posting very much about Carmilla anymore? You have all of your normal content but you haven’t been posting as much of her as you used to,’_   
_‘Carmilla follows me actually, and to be honest, it’s a little awkward posting some of the content I used to when the person it’s about can see,’_   
**_‘Oh dear, have you stopped with those adorable little gifsets and photos on my account?’_ **

Carmilla’s online presence was annoying at times, but it was harmless and she had even noticed an influx of new followers that Laura found entirely likely that it was due to Carmilla’s influence. Regardless, with the new followers the notes in the photos with Carmilla were skyrocketing and there were even a few edits floating around. Laura is right in the middle of scowling at how attractive Carmilla Karnstein is when she receives a new email. Both annoyed and relieved at the distraction, Laura clicks onto her Gmail account and sees that she has an email from _MatskaB@gmail.com._

_Ms Hollis,_   
_My name is Matska Belmonde, and I am the PR Rep for Silas Channel. It’s come to my attention that you’ve recently posted some photos featuring one of our hosts, and they have been growing quite popular. As a result of this, I believe that it would be beneficial to form a connection of sorts with you._

_If you are willing, we would like to invite you to participate in one of our podcasts alongside some of our hosts. Given your fan base, it would be excellent exposure both for you and for Silas. All I ask in exchange is that you do some promoting for Silas on your channel. Rest assured it will be nothing extreme, just a few posts here and there advertising your upcoming appearance, and any further appearances should they occur._

_If you could respond at your earliest convenience, it would be greatly appreciated. I hope to hear from you soon._

_Until then,_   
_Matska Belmonde._

After reading the email, Laura somehow manages to pick her jaw up for the keyboard long enough to type out a response.

_Hi there, Miss Belmonde. I hope it’s okay that I call you that, I’m sorry if it’s not. It would be amazing to be on one of your podcasts, it would be a dream come true really. It would be no problem to do a little promoting, hell, I probably would be too excited about it to do anything else._

_Just give me the details of when and where you need me and I’ll be happy to sort something out. Thank you so much for this opportunity._

_Laura Hollis_

Laura wasn’t really expecting a response so quickly but she almosts throws the laptop when it alerts her of a new email.

_Please, call me Mattie. I’m delighted to see that you are open to the idea. If it wouldn’t be too much of an inconvenience, we will be shooting a podcast later tonight and it would be a perfect opportunity for you to make an appearance._

_I trust it shouldn't be too difficult to find the Silas office, and I will leave your name with security so there should be no problem with entry. The podcasts are usually filmed around 7, so if you could be here at 6 we can run you through everything and perhaps even give you a tour of the office._

_We look forward to working with you,_   
_Mattie._

  
_That wouldn’t be an inconvenience at all, I look forward to it. If I have any problems I’ll be sure to let you know. Thanks again,_   
_Laura._

After sending the message, Laura lets out a breath and brings up Tumblr to write a new post.  
 _'So, something amazing just happened, guys. I’ve been asked to be a guest on a Silas Podcast, if you haven’t heard of them you should definitely check out the channel. I’m super pumped, and it would be amazing if you guys could spread the word for me.'_  
Laura is still buzzing with excitement and soon enough her fans are as well. Notes and posts start to appear and everyone is just generally expressing their happiness both for Laura, and for the fact that this means there might be some more real life interacting with Carmilla. She’s not at all surprised when Carmilla reblogs her post.  
 _‘Well, that is certainly an interesting development,’_

//

“Okay? How is this okay? Fair enough, she didn’t need to show up for the podcast, but to completely blow off filming a video. That is so not okay, especially with only a text saying, ‘Sorry, I’m busy.’”   
“I understand that you are frustrated, Carmilla, I do. However, there is nothing we can do about it right now. We can talk to Ell about this later, but right now you need to get ready for the podcast,” Perry is looking at Carmilla with sympathetic eyes, but her tone is completely serious.   
“Fine, let’s just get this over with,” Carmilla mutters and looks over to the table where Danny and Kirsch are already bickering. Carmilla notices that Laura, on the other hand, is watching her, concern clear on her face.   
“Hey, are you okay?” Laura asks as Carmilla picks up her headphones.  
“I’m fine,” Carmilla responds with far more bite than the girl beside her deserves. Perry catches Carmilla eye and gives her the signal to start so she takes a breath and settles into her role as a host.   
“Hey there, everyone. I’m Carmilla Karnstein and welcome back to the Silas podcast, we have a special guest with us tonight, but first I’ll let the other hosts introduce themselves,”   
“What’s up, bros? This is Kirsch,”  
“This is Danny Lawrence, I’m pleased to be here talking to you all for another week,”   
“Like I said earlier, we are changing things up a bit this time. Instead of having Ell with us like we usually do, we have a special guest, Laura Hollis. Say HI, Laura,” Carmilla starts and turns to the small girl in expectation.  
“Hi, Laura. Sorry, that was lame. Hi everyone, I’m super excited to be here,”   
Laura’s introduction warrants a small laugh from everyone, and Carmilla smiles a little bit despite her bad mood from earlier.

The podcast goes by smoothly and by the time Carmilla gets the signal to finish up she is almost disappointed. There was something captivating about watching Laura laughing and interacting with everyone, it was like the girl was born to be behind around a mic.

“I really hate to be the one that has to end this wonderful experience, but it’s about time for us to wrap it up. I’m Carmilla, you can find me @HeyCarmilla,”   
“Aw man, it’s over already? That’s it for another week, bros. I’m Kirsch, and you can find me @ZetaK. I’ll catch you later,”   
“I’m Danny, come say Hi @DLawrence,”   
“It’s been great having you on the podcast with us, Cupcake. Show Laura some love in the comments guys,”   
As the rest of the hosts wrap it up, they all turn to Laura as she does the same, “Thank you so much for having me on, guys. It’s been a blast, I’m Laura Hollis, and you can find me on Twitter and Tumblr @Laura2TheLetter. I really hope I get the opportunity to do this again some time,”   
Lafontaine gives them the signal that the camera is off and everyone starts to gather themselves.   
“You did awesome, Little Nerd,” Kirsch says as he offers Laura a high five.  
“Thank you, Kirsch. I’m sorry I didn’t get a photo with you the other day, you just seemed a little out of it,” Laura seems genuinely apologetic but Kirsch just shrugs it off.  
“Nah, it’s totally fine. I did hear you got some pretty awesome shots with our girl, Karnstein, though,”   
“Yeah, she was super nice to let me take them,” Laura responds and a smile tugs at Carmilla until she sees Perry on her way over to her.  
“I’ll give Ell a call and see what her deal is,” Carmilla says and Perry nods.  
It takes way too many rings for Ell to pick up, and when she does there is the noise of hushed movement and music in the background.  
“What the fuck, Ell? We were supposed to shoot a video three hours ago, where are you?”   
“Relax, Carmilla. Jesus Christ, it’s just a video. An old friend of mine is in town and surprised me, we’ll just shoot the video some other day,” Ell replies offhandedly and there is more noise in the background and definitely someone else in close proximity.  
“We can’t just ‘shoot the video some other day’, Ell. It needs to be done today,”   
“Look, I need to go. I’ll talk to you later, Carmilla,” Ell hangs up the phone before Carmilla can say another word and she is seething.  
“Hey, that sounded a little intense. Is everything okay?” Laura must have walked up when Carmilla wasn’t looking because suddenly she is right there.  
“You know, it’s really not. I was meant to shoot a video three hours ago and Ell bailed on me, so now I’m screwed because the damn thing is meant to be done by tonight,” Carmilla responds, thoroughly frustrated and she watches as Laura processes the information.  
“I could do it,” Laura offers and Carmilla does a double take.  
“What?”  
“The video, I could do it. I mean, that’s only if you want me to. I can totally understand if you wouldn’t want me to,” Laura begins to backtrack but Perry cuts in,  
“That’s an excellent idea. Carmilla, you can stop stressing and run Laura through the details,”   
Carmilla just nods dumbly for a moment but leads Laura to the room that they film all of the coworker videos.   
“I’m sure you’ll understand the general idea of this if you’ve watched some of our other videos, but we're doing a Two Truths and a Lie video,” Carmilla says and Laura smiles at the idea.  
“Water or shots?”   
Carmilla looks behind the table and picks up two shot glasses and a bottle of whiskey before setting them on the table.  
“Shots then, cool,” Laura comments and Carmilla smirks before bending over to pick up the water shooter.  
“Both, actually,”   
“Even better, so do we just right now our statements while we wait for the camera crew to get set up?”   
“That’s the plan,”

Carmilla and Laura both take a seat across from each other at the table and begin to construct some statements for the other.   
“Okay, guys. The camera is rolling and we are ready to go when you are,” Laf calls out and Carmilla and Laura both give them a thumbs up.  
“You ready for this, Cutie?” Carmilla asks, already attempting to psych her opponent out but Laura simply smiles at her.  
“I’m definitely ready. Don’t you know I’ve already got a massive advantage over you?”   
“Do you now?” Carmilla is intrigued by the idea but she can’t see any sort of advantage the other girl might have over her.  
“Mmhm,” Laura hums in response and Carmilla arches a brow.  
“And what might that be?”   
“I’ve been a fan of yours for years, and I know a lot more about you than you know about me,” Laura answers smugly and the smile drops from Carmilla’s face.  
“Fuck,” 


	3. Two Truths and a Lie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla and Laura tell some secrets, and things get very wet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took so long, I had to pack and move for University seven hours away from home, and then I had my birthday party. I'll hopefully update TEiiYE as well, but I can't make any promises.

“Okay, you guys are good to go,” Laf calls from behind the camera and Laura gives Carmilla a sweet smile.

“Two shots to start,” Carmilla says and knocks her shot glass against Laura’s before they both down two shots. The alcohol burns going down but Laura shakes it off and looks to Carmilla again. 

“Would you like to go first?” 

“Sure, why not?” Carmilla responds and begins to read from her phone.

“When I was in highschool I almost got expelled for setting someone’s lab coat on fire during a Chemistry class, my first job was at a sandwich shop and I spent an entire summer dressed up as a Six Inch sub before I got fired for telling people what was really in the secret sauce, and finally, I once locked my brother in a closet because he always flirted with my friend whenever we were at my place and my friend started to like him more,”

“This is going to be even easier than I thought,” Laura bats her shot glass between her hands and Carmilla frowns.

“Come on, how could that be easy?” 

“I know the first one is true because that’s how you became best friends with Kirsch, you’ve told that story a few different times in videos actually. Knowing that actually make it better that the third one is true as well, because you don’t really strike me as the type to have too many friends as a kid, which means that the friend your brother was always flirting with was Kirsch. Which means that the second one is a lie,” Laura replies smugly and Carmilla stares her down for a moment longer before cursing.

“Son of a Bitch, yes the second one is a lie. My first job was at a cafe, I still don’t trust that secret sauce though,” 

Laura throws her hands up in excitement as Carmilla downs another shot, and jumps out of her seat to pick up the water shooter. 

“Come on then, Cupcake. Give me your best shot,” Carmilla sighs and Laura levels the water shooter at her chest. To her credit, Carmilla’s only response to the sudden onslaught of water is a quiet gasp and tensed muscles. After Laura sets the water shooter back down Carmilla puffs out air and smooths her wet hair back with her hand.

“Is that always your go to for getting a girl wet?” 

“No, I’m usually just a lot more creative with my tongue,” Laura shrugs and Carmilla gapes at her. 

“My turn,” Laura says and Carmilla shakes her head before settling back into her seat.

“Let’s see what you’ve got, shall we?” 

“Good luck, Carm. Okay, the morning after my 11th birthday my dad found me asleep on the roof because I was waiting to be taken to Hogwarts, when I was younger I used to have a dog named Buffy but after she got hit by a car I refused to leave the house for a week, my first time was with a girl in a storeroom at the local movie theatre when I was 16. Which one is the lie?” 

Carmilla sits back in her chair and studies the girl for a moment before leaning forward again with a self assured smirk. 

“I’ve seen enough Harry Potter on your blog to know that the first couldn’t be anything other than true, for the very same reason I definitely believe that you would have named a dog Buffy. So I’m going to have to say that the third one was entirely too scandalous for a naive, provincial girl such as yourself to be true,” 

“Naive, provincial girl, huh?” Laura asks and reaches out to grab the bottle. 

“Mmhm, entirely too tightly wound,” Carmilla drawls, confident in her win. 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Laura grins and grabs Carmilla’s shot glass, filling it and pushing it back towards the smug host.

“Oh, you’ve got to be shitting me. I was wrong?” Carmilla asks and Laura nods at her with a sweet smile. “Drink up.”

“This is bullshit,” Carmilla states and downs the shot, hissing quietly at the burn. Carmilla stares down the tiny girl holding the water shooter but lets out a shriek when she angles the stream of water straight down her shirt. 

“Uggh, you had to make it ice cold didn’t you, Laf. I’m pretty sure my nipples could poke an eye out at this point,” Carmilla grumbles.

“I have to agree with you there,” Laura replies and glances pointedly at Carmilla’s chest. Carmilla narrows her eyes but picks up her phone again. “My turn.” 

“It’s time for the headlines, let’s see how good you are with these ones. Okay, College Frat Boy is convinced he is a Chicken and almost drowns at a pool party, Sorority is undergoing police questioning after it was revealed that annual festival features the live hunting of Frat Boys, Broody Woman is accused of being a Vampire by coworkers,” 

For the first time, Laura’s smile drops and she starts to look worried. 

“Okay, uh. I remember seeing the chicken headline somewhere so that one is real, and the vampire thing sounds like it could be true. The Sorority thing can’t be real, there can’t actually be sorority girls hunting people, right?” 

“I hope you are thirsty, Sweetheart,” Carmilla gives Laura a truly devilish grin and pours Laura a shot. 

“Which one was the lie?” Laura asks and downs the shot before looking fearfully at the woman gleefully filling the water shooter.

“The first two were true, college is weird nowadays, but I was literally talking about me with that last one. Those idiots have been calling me a vampire for years, I’m surprised you didn’t pick up on that one actually,” Carmilla replies and angles the water shooter down directly at Laura’s lap. 

“Oh dear, someone’s getting a little excited I see,” Carmilla smirks and Laura squirms in her seat as she tries to brush off the excess water. 

“You’ve just been waiting to make that joke, haven’t you?” 

Carmilla simply shrugs in response and puts the water shooter back down. 

“Alright, my turn again. Riot breaks out at peaceful protest to protect Anglerfish, Man claims that he grew donkey ears overnight, Woman attempts to rob animal shelter but ends up adopting 3 puppies,” 

Carmilla thinks it over for a moment before making up her mind, “Donkey ears, I’m pretty sure I would have heard about it if it happened,” 

“Oooh, unfortunately the answer we were looking for was C. Thank you so much for playing,” Laura winces dramatically and fills the water shooter.

“Oh for the love of fuck, are you really telling me that some lackwit actually thinks he grew donkey ears?” 

“I’m afraid so, that animal shelter one was only partly a lie though. A woman did rob an animal shelter, but she didn’t adopt any puppies,” 

 

Carmilla knocks back the shot and bows her head to take the full brunt of the water stream, effectively flattening her hair against her head. 

“Final round, make it count, Cupcake. By the time I was fourteen I’d learnt how to play guitar, piano, and violin, I’m an excellent cook, and my first kiss was in a storage closet at school,” 

“Third one,” Laura says confidently and Carmilla narrows her eyes.

“You fucking guessed that one,” 

“Nope, I’ve heard Kirsch talk about your cooking skills on tonnes of podcasts, and I’ve seen your hands. You have calluses from playing the guitar, and if you learnt guitar it isn’t much of a stretch to believe that you would have learnt the others as well,” Laura explains and Carmilla groans.

“You could have warned me about your skills of deduction. And yes, if it isn’t already obvious, that was the lie. My first kiss wasn’t at school, it was with Kirsch’s sister in their treehouse, which now that I think about it, probably isn’t something he knew about. I guess he will now though,” 

Instead of grabbing the water shooter Laura pours them both a shot, and downs one as Carmilla looks at her questioningly.

“I figured at this point you could use a sympathy shot,” Laura shrugs and Carmilla nods her head in understanding. 

“Does that means that you won’t wet me this time?” Carmilla asks with a wolfy grin. 

“And miss out on making Carmilla Karnstein wet? Not a chance,” Laura responds and grabs the shooter to catch Carmilla straight in the face with the next stream of water. Carmilla spit out the water that landed in her mouth and scowls at the smiling girl in front of her, ignoring the fact that her makeup is sure to be running at this point. She takes her next shot and watches Laura expectantly. 

“You know, I really am enjoying this game,” Laura grins and Carmilla drops her head on the table top. 

“Okay, last one. The last time I went on a date, the girl stood me up, but somehow she managed to forget where she was supposed to be meeting me and showed up with another girl she was taking on a date, this one time I was having sex with a girl and she told me she’s always wanted to have sex with an elf, and just last weekend, I told my friend I was sick and couldn’t go out just because I wanted to stay home and marathon The 100, and now that I’ve said that I just realized that she will probably see this and know I blew her off. Sorry Betty,” Laura looks apologetically into the camera. 

“You’re good, but you’re not that good,” Carmilla says and Laura frowns at her.

“You were clearly milking that last one for all it was worth and hoping I’d think it was too nerdy to be a lie, I’d also like to believe that no one would be stupid enough to do either of those things to a girl like you, but I have met some spectacularly idiotic people in my day and I can sadly say that those two are probably true,” 

 

Laura pouts and Carmilla knows she’s won that round, triumphantly pouring Laura a shot and readying the water shooter. Laura tries to sway Carmilla with admittedly cute puppy dog eyes, but after a moment she gives up and accepts the shot before being blasted in the face by the water. 

 

“Well, secrets have been revealed and things got a little wet, so that’s another Silas video for you. Thanks for watching guys, make sure you follow us on social media, the details will be in the link below this video, and don’t forget to hit subscribe. I’m Carmilla, and this is Laura, I’ll see you guys next time,” 

“You’re good guys, and nice job Hollis, it’s been awhile since someone’s put the vampire in her place,” Lafontaine calls out and Carmilla scowls.

“That was so much fun, this must be the best job ever,” Laura says and both Lafontaine and JP are sporting grins at the girl’s enthusiasm. 

“It is pretty cool, yeah,” Lafontaine replies and JP hums in agreement. 

“Thanks for helping me out, Cupcake. It would have been a real pain in the ass if I had to reschedule that shoot,” 

“It’s no problem, really. I had a lot of fun, and my followers will love the video,” Laura smiles and Carmilla returns it with a small smile of her own. The little blogger really was growing on her more and more the longer she spent with her, and that in itself was rather strange but Carmilla really wasn't that bothered. What was bothering her though, was whatever the hell was happening with Ell. Ell was known to be somewhat forgetful and late on occasion, but completely blowing off a video was a next level no-no in their field of work. Against her better judgement Carmilla excuses herself from Laura and types out a text to Ell.

 

_ ‘We need to talk, Ell. Are you at home?’ _

Carmilla chews on her lip absentmindedly and waits for a response. 

_ ‘No, and I probably won't be tonight, but if it’ll stop your bitching for five seconds we can talk tomorrow.’  _

Carmilla’s jaw tenses in annoyance at the message but she sighs and accepts that it’s the best she’s going to get. It’s not until she sets her phone back in her pocket and tries to stand up that she registers but how much the shots had affected her. From across the table she sees Laura do the same and takes a tiny bit of comfort that she isn’t completely alone in her new found predicament.

“Oh crap,” Laura exclaims and Carmilla leans back into the table to steady herself before looking back at the girl.

“Something the matter, Sweetheart?” 

“I was meant to drive home tonight, and I hurt had a lot more alcohol than I should have,” 

“I can give you a ride, if you want?” Carmilla offers and the blogger’s brow furrows.

“You had more than I did, how could you be any better off than I am?” 

“Right, I probably could have phrased that a little bit better. What I should of said is that Perry, in all her mother hen wisdom, always drives us home whenever one of us has too much to drink. She picked Bio Major and me up the night we ran into each other actually,” 

“Oh, I wouldn't want her to have to go so far out of her way to take me home,” Laura tries to decline but Carmilla shrugs. 

“So stay at our place, we have a spare room. Perry can drop you back here tomorrow morning and you can pick up your car, I’ll have to do the same thing anyway,” 

“Are you sure she wouldn’t mind? I’d hate to be a burden,”

“I guarantee she will be fine with it, Hell, she’ll probably love having someone new to tell about the house rules,

“Okay, that would be great,” Laura says and Carmilla smirks.

“Let’s go back to my place then, Cupcake,” 


	4. Rude Awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla takes Laura home, the morning after, and an introduction with Ell and Laura.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really meant to have this out sooner, it's also a little short. I'm sorry.

“This place is really nice, do they really just let you stay here as a perk of working for them?” Laura asks and Carmilla shrugs her shoulders.  
“Please excuse the mess, unfortunately, some of the occupants of the house are not as civilised as others,” Perry apologizes and not so subtly looks at Carmilla.  
“I have a name,” Carmilla drawls and Perry’s lips tense into a thin line.  
“Fine, please excuse the mess, Laura. Carmilla is about as civilised as a cavewoman when it comes to cleanliness,” Perry smiles to herself when Carmilla scowls this time.  
“It’s totally fine, Perry. I mean really, the house is spotless. At the very least it’s cleaner than my house,” Laura says and Perry glances at Carmilla again.  
“Yes, well. You may want to hold your judgement on that until you’ve seen Carmilla’s bedroom,” Perry responds and Carmilla shrugs again, this time in apparent agreement.  
“I’ll have to take your word for it I guess, I don’t think I’m really going to get a good look at Carm’s bedroom anytime soon,”  
Perry and Carmilla both share a glance and Laura suddenly finds herself questioning her previous statement. “What?”  
“I was actually just about to take you to see my bedroom, Cutie,” Carmilla starts to explain and Laura feels herself flush at the realisation.  
“What? I think you have gotten the completely wrong idea, I didn’t come back here to sleep with you,” Laura sputters and Perry glances at Carmilla again.  
“Well, it’s been a long day. I trust that you can sort out our guest for the night?”  
Laura is getting more and more frustrated at herself, and angry at Carmilla for assuming that she is just going to fall into bed with her because she asked.  
“Did you even listen to what I just said?” Laura demands as Perry walks past the two of them and disappears down the hallway.  
“Laura, relax. I have only the purest intentions for us tonight, you have my word,” Carmilla placates and holds a hand over her heart.  
“Oh, but you said you were taking me to your bedroom?” Laura’s anger suddenly deflates and gives way to her confusion.  
“Yes, because that’s where you’ll be staying tonight. Ell isn’t home, but she could be back later tonight so I can’t give you her room and the couch is godawful,” Carmilla explains and Laura finally begins to understand.  
“Oh,” Laura says again and Carmilla chuckles at her.  
“Come on then, Cupcake. Bedtime,”  
With that, Carmilla leads her through the living room and down the hallway that Perry had previously ventured. Carmilla leans against a door handle and the door swings open, revealing an unholy mess of a room. Clothes are strewn around the available surfaces in the room, covering stacks upon stacks of books piled around the space. The bed is a tangled mess of what once was likely an intricate designed Constellation bed set, and looks as though it hasn’t been made in quite some time. Laura has seen that bed set on Tumblr before, likely something that Carmilla had posted, and now that you think about it there is a good chance that the photo Carmilla had on her blog was an original of her room at a much cleaner time.  
“Perry wasn’t kidding about the mess, huh?” Laura says absentmindedly and Carmilla laughs quietly.  
“I guess it could do with a little tidying, God knows Mother Hen would jump at the chance,”  
“Why don’t you ask her? If you really don’t think she’d mind,”  
“Because I actually like her company at times, and I don’t want to traumatise the poor girl with some of the things I’ve got buried in this room,” Carmilla answers and Laura frowns.  
“I mean yeah, I guess it’s pretty messy and there’s probably some gross stuff but isn’t that kind of the point of getting Perry to clean. What could be so bad?” Laura asks and Carmilla gives her a look that says, ‘Think about it.’  
“Oooh, so you mean like?” Understanding dawns on Laura and she gestures with her hands to get her point across.  
“You got there eventually. Just don’t look in my bedside table, or sock drawer for that matter and you’ll be fine,” Carmilla teases and Laura glances towards the small set of drawers next to the bed before shaking her head.  
“Right, don’t snoop. Got it,”  
Carmilla laughs and shakes her head before heading over to her clothes drawer, she doesn’t even need to turn around to know that Laura is jumping to conclusions again when she hears the sudden intake of breath.  
“Relax, sweetheart. I’m just grabbing some clothes for you to change into. I can’t imagine that ‘professional’ getup of yours in all that comfortable to sleep in,” Carmilla waves a hand to gesture to Laura’s outfit and she huffs for a moment before seemingly realising that Carmilla is doing her a favour.  
“Oh, thank you,” Laura mumbles and Carmilla hums in acknowledgement. Carmilla returns her attention to the task at hand and pulls one of the drawers open, deliberately avoiding the sock drawer entirely for Laura’s benefit. After a minute of two of rifling through her clothes, she comes up with a pair of dark grey sweats and an oversized t-shirt. Carmilla turns back around and hands the clothes to the girl that seems to have finally made the decision the sit down on the bed.  
“Thanks,”  
“No problem, let me know if you need anything else,” Carmilla replies and turns to head back out of the room.  
“Wait, where are you going?” Laura blurts and Carmilla stops before poking her head back in through the doorway.  
“I’m going to go sleep on the couch,” Carmilla answers and Laura looks sheepish for a moment.  
“You don’t have to sleep on the couch,” Laura says quietly and Carmilla raises a brow.  
“And where do you propose I sleep?”  
“I mean, it’s technically your bed I’m sleeping in and it doesn't seem fair for me to kick you out of it,”  
“This coming from the girl that almost had a stroke at the thought of sleeping with me?” Carmilla points out and Laura rolls her eyes.  
“I didn’t mean it like that, I just mean that you can sleep here too, if you’d like,” Laura offers and Carmilla smiles again.  
“I think I might like that very much,” Carmilla responds and Laura jumps up from her seat.  
“Right, awesome. I’m just gonna go and get changed. This is the way to the bathroom right? I’m guessing it is, why else would there be two doors in here. It’d just be silly if it wasn’t a bathroom, right?” Laura rambles as she scurries towards the bathroom and Carmilla just watches in amazement. After a moment, Carmilla shakes her head and starts to get ready for bed by taking off her boots and taking out her keys, wallet, and phone from her pocket and tossing them on the free surface of her bedside table before leaning over to find her phone charger. With the trivial things taken care of Carmilla reaches up under her t-shirt to take off her bra, tossing it behind her to fall onto one of the countless piles of dirty laundry on the floor. Carmilla is halfway through sliding her jeans off when the bathroom door opens and a squeak sounds. Carmilla chuckles quietly and finishes stepping out of her jeans before turning to face Laura. Laura openly ogles Carmilla in her new attire of a t-shirt and black boy leg underwear, “Is there a problem?”  
“Holy Crapsticks, I’m sorry. I didn’t realise you were still changing, that was totally my fault,” Laura manages to sputter and quickly turns to lean her forehead against the door frame.  
“Don’t worry, I’m already finished,” Carmilla says and Laura whips around again.  
“That’s what you’re wearing?!”  
“I usually sleep in a lot less, but yes. This is what I’m wearing,” Carmilla answers and tries to ignore how cute Laura looks wearing her clothes. When Laura simply opens and closes her mouth without finding anything to say, Carmilla shrugs and pulls up her blanket to rest on her waist and glances at Laura, waiting for her to join her.

~

Laura wakes up wrapped in quite possibly the most comfortable blanket she’s ever felt in her life, but as an increasingly familiar scent envelopes her, Laura jumps with the realisation that she is not in her own bed. Her suspicions are confirmed when she raises her head, and after pushing a curtain of tangled hair out of her face, Laura sees a dark pillow covered in random constellations of stars instead of her yellow pillow. With all of the confusion of waking up, Laura realises that she’s in Carmilla’s bed without Carmilla and that there is shouting filtering through the walls. Laura untangles herself from the blanket and manages to climb out of bed, straightening out her borrowed shirt and pushing her hair out of her face once more before padding lightly to the door. Upon opening it, Laura is greeted by the sight of Carmilla glaring at a blonde girl that Laura recognises as Ell.  
“I don’t know how you can act all innocent when I walked on you in your little Tumblr stalker’s arms this morning,” Ell yells and neither of them seemed to have noticed your presence just yet.  
“How many times do I need to tell you that it isn’t like that? If you would just let me explain already-,” Carmilla grits out in frustration but Ell cuts her off again.  
“Do you really think that I’m going to buy into that bullshit?”  
“For fucks sake, Ell. You don’t get to come in here and yell at me for something I didn’t even damn well have the pleasure of doing. As a matter of fact, you don’t get to come in here and yell at me at all. You don’t get to be angry when you are the reason Laura is here in the first place, you are the one that bailed on me for that video, and you should be thanking Laura for covering for you,” Carmilla’s face is tinged with red and her jaw is clenched tight.  
“Yeah right, like I’m going to thank that little whore of yours,” Ell laughs and Carmilla’s face turns even redder.  
“Her name is Laura, and she is not a whore,” Carmilla snarls and Laura has had enough.  
“Okay, I get that you are angry right now, but you don’t get to come in here and call me a whore,” Laura starts and both girls turn to look at her. A sinister smile settles on Ell’s face and Carmilla just looks like she wishes Laura hadn’t seen any of this.  
“Here she is now, the little homewrecker,” Ell says and waves her hand in a grand gesture.  
“Hey, I don’t know what your problem is, but I haven’t done anything wrong. Neither has Carm for that matter, so you need to calm to hell down before you really start to piss me off,” Laura warns and Ell laughs.  
“I see your sidepiece doubles as a guard dog. You really know how to pick them, don’t you, ‘Carm’?”  
“Ell, can we please just talk about this later?” Carmilla asks, still thoroughly frustrated and steps closer to try and pull Laura back by the hand.  
“What’s wrong? Don’t want your little girlfriend to see us fighting?”  
“I’m not her girlfriend, and even if I was, I still wouldn’t sit here and let Carm take your shit on her own,” Laura bites back and Ell’s eyes flash angrily.  
“You better put a lease on your bitch, Carmilla,” Ell threatens and Carmilla grabs Laura’s hand tighter, stopping her from leaping at Ell and pulling her behind her instead.  
“That’s enough, Ell. If you want to be angry, be angry at me. If we are going to talk any more about this, it’s not going to be now,” Carmilla states, and her voice has taken on a deadly calm tone.  
“You know what? Whatever, I don’t give a damn what you and your mistress do. I have better things to occupy my time, in fact, I might go find the girl I was with last night and see if she wants to go for a few more rounds. She was a better fuck than you’ve ever been,” Ell responds and turns on her heel before walking out the door.  
“What the hell was that about? Why was she so angry that she found us together?” Laura asks and Carmilla stares blankly at the door.  
“Because she’s my girlfriend,”

 

 


	5. The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Hurricane Ell, and Laura is thirstier than originally thought.

Laura’s mouth falls open at Carmilla’s statement and after a few moments of gaping it snaps shut again.  
“Oh,” the word finally falls from Laura’s mouth and Carmilla doesn’t want to angry at Laura right now so she shakes her head.  
“I need to make a call,” Carmilla sighs and Laura shuffles on her feet awkwardly.  
“Oh, okay. Uh, do you want me to go?”  
“You’ve already heard this much, so you might as well stick around,” Carmilla responds with a bitter tinge to her voice as she pulls her phone from her pocket. Ell picks up after a few rings and she doesn’t seem to be even remotely bothered by what just happened.

“Oh, are you calling to grovel and beg for my return already?” Ell asks in a condescending and instead of doing just that, Carmilla seethes.  
“Really? You think you can just leave after saying something like that? Do you really think I wouldn’t want to talk about this?” Carmilla demands and Ell stops for a moment before she responds again.  
“What’s there to talk about? I slept with someone else last night, I’ve been doing it for the last two years,” Ell states and Carmilla’s breath catches and her anger gives way to hurt.   
“You’ve been cheating on me this entire time? I thought you loved me?”   
“Oh wake up, Carmilla. We were never serious, we’ve been ‘dating’ for two years and we still have separate bedrooms. What does that tell you? Besides, in order to love you, I’d have to actually give a damn about you,” Ell replies as though she is telling some small child that Santa isn’t real. Carmilla’s breathing starts to speed up and her mouth goes dry as she tries to form words.   
“I just thought you wanted to take things slow,” Carmilla’s voice is quiet and she’s sure she sounds broken.   
“When have I ever done things slowly, Carmilla? I’ll be by later to pick up my shit, if I haven’t made it obvious enough for you, I’m moving out. I’ve found someone that can actually hold my interest and I’m done pretending to care about you and your mommy issues,” Ell’s words are nothing but cruel now and Carmilla almost drops the phone as she struggles to draw in enough oxygen.   
“There you go again, you can’t even get dumped properly. You really are pathetic, Carmilla. I can’t believe how much time I’ve already wasted on you,”   
With that, Ell hangs up and Carmilla slumps against the wall chest heaving as panic and self-loathing start to settle in.   
“Carm?” Laura asks gently but Carmilla shakes her head and retreats to her bedroom, slamming the door as she goes.

//

After a deathly pale Carmilla runs into her bedroom, Laura is left standing in the hall and she doesn’t know what to do at first. She only flounders for a moment longer before she hears another door open and sees Perry and Lafontaine emerge with matching looks of sympathy on their faces.   
“I’m sorry you had to witness that, Sweetie. Put you like to sit down and have some hot chocolate? Lafontaine and I are just about to start making breakfast,” Perry says softly and Laura shrugs her shoulders lightly.  
“My phone and clothes are still in Carm’s room, and I don’t think she really wants to see anyone right now, so I guess there’s not much else I can do but wait it out,”   
Perry nods in understanding and she ushers Laura towards the kitchen gently and Laura begins to walk.

They’ve all just settled down at the table and Perry is handing Laura a mug of hot chocolate when the quiet is broken by wracking sobs and all eyes fall on Carmilla’s bedroom door. Perry and Lafontaine share a look of concern and Laura begins to worry even more than she already was.   
“She’s really taking what happened hard, huh? I don’t even know what Ell said on the phone but Carm just looked broken afterwards. Honestly, I was worried she was about to have a panic attack,” Laura says quietly and Perry and Lafontaine share another, far more concerning look.  
“She still might,” Lafontaine mutters and Perry looks at her with a reprimanding gaze before they meet her eyes with a set jaw.   
“Laura, I hate to ask something like this of you, but I think perhaps you should go and talk to Carmilla,” Perry suggests and Laura’s eyes widen.  
“Wait, what? Why would you want to send me? I barely know her, she lives with you guys,” Laura protests and Perry nods.  
“That’s exactly why she probably won’t want to see us right now. You, on the other hand, she seems to have taken a liking to. I think that talking to you might be exactly what she needs at the moment,”   
“I mean, I guess I could try, but I really don’t see what good it would do,” Laura sighs and reaches down to finish off her mug before she stands on shaky legs and heads towards Carmilla’s door.

Once she gets there, Laura is unsure of what to do again and she stands outside the door once again. Laura finally decides to girl the hell up and reaches out to knock on the door.  
“What?” Comes a croaky response and Laura sucks in a breath before she presses on.  
“Carm, it’s Laura. I was worried about you and I wanted to make sure you’re okay,”

Carmilla doesn’t respond so Laura tries again, “Can I come in?”   
She’s met with silence again before Carmilla’s defeated voice responds, “Fine.”

Laura slowly opens the door and peeks into the room to see Carmilla sitting in the centre of her bed, clutching a pillow. Laura tries to approach slowly but it’s not a simple task when the floor is literally covered in mess. Despite her best effort, Laura misplaces a step and with a squeak she tumbles to the ground.   
“Laura!” Carmilla startles and she crawls to the end of the bed to poke her head over and sees Laura face first in a pile of clothes. Laura thanks watching higher power is out there that the pile she landed in smells clean for the most part.   
“I’m okay, I think,” Laura mumbles after lifting her head up and pushing herself up until she’s back on her feet. Carmilla hasn’t spoken again but she watches Laura with red eyes and tear tracks still visible on her face.  
“Are you okay?” Laura asks gently after she finally manages to reach the bed and sits on the side she had slept on. She runs her hand around under the blanket and manages to find her phone. Carmilla crawls back up to her previous position, only now that Laura is occupying the space the girl ends up leaning more on her shoulder than sitting by herself. Taking the initiative, Laura lifts her arm up and wraps her arm around the girl leaning against her. Carmilla relaxes into the embrace and Laura starts to run her fingers around in patterns on the arm.   
“Do you want to talk about it?” Laura breaks the silence that had fallen over them.  
“Not really, but I guess after this morning you could probably use an explanation,” Carmilla mumbles against Laura before scooching closer to change the angle and sit on her own. The new position doesn’t displace Laura’s arm so she decides to leave it in place and Carmilla takes a deep breath.   
“Well, Ell and I have been together for the last two years but I guess you could say we’ve had a bit of a history before that. I was under the impression that we were in love, but apparently that isn’t quite the case. She’s been cheating on me for the entire relationship,”   
“That’s awful, Carm,” Laura says and Carmilla hums before continuing.   
“From what she said on the phone, we were never that serious. I was just something to occupy her time, but apparently now, and I’m paraphrasing here but, ‘I’m pathetic and she’s done wasting her time pretending to give a damn about me and my mommy issues’.”

Laura grits her teeth at the words coming from the girl beside her and she starts to seethe at the thought that anyone could say such awful things to another human being, especially someone they had claimed to love.   
“I know I haven’t really had much to do with her, but I’m really starting to hate that girl,”   
“I guess I’d be lying if I said that Ell doesn’t leave lasting impressions on people,” Carmilla laughs but it still holds no trace of happiness.   
“Uggh, she’s just such a raging bad person. You’re awesome, Carm. She’s crazy to think, let alone say such awful things,”   
“Tell me how you really feel, Cupcake,” Carmilla replies but her familiar smirk is working its way back onto her face and Laura breathes a sigh of relief.  
“Oh, shut up,”   
“Rude, I am emotionally unstable at the moment,” Carmilla tries to sound offended but she just ends up with a full smirk and is edging towards her usual tone of voice.   
“I’m going to assume that the fact that you are cracking jokes right now means that you are feeling, at least, a little bit better?” Laura asks and Carmilla hums again.  
“I don’t know how long it’s gonna be before I’m okay with everything, but right now I am feeling a little better. I think I have you to thank for that, Sweetheart,”  
“I’m here to cheer you up anytime you need me to,” Laura promises and Carmilla lift her head to give her a soft smile.  
“Thank you, Laura. I mean it,” Carmilla takes on a serious tone and Laura smiles back.  
“No problem, all I had to do really was fall over an insult someone, so it wasn’t too difficult. I am kinda hungry now though, do you think we could maybe go have some breakfast now?”

Carmilla’s stomach grumbles to life and the girl simply shrugs before, almost reluctantly, untucking herself from beneath Laura’s arm and getting up from the bed and heading out to the kitchen.

  
Carmilla grunts in a way of acknowledgement to Perry and Lafontaine and she watches as Carmilla stretches after a moment. Laura is aware that despite the humour, Carmilla is still very much vulnerable at the moment. Laura knows that, really she does but the way Carmilla is stretching right now is causing her shirt to ride up, and her legs the emphasise exactly how much skin is on display and every ounce of her tiny gay being is ogling the girl in front of her. Thankfully Carmilla finishes stretching and takes a seat, seemingly unaware of Laura’s blatant staring. Unfortunately, she looks up to see both Perry and Lafontaine are watching her with varying expressions. Perry simply raises a brow that is probably meant to be reprimanding and Lafontaine just has a shit-eating grin on their face.

“Would you like some juice, Laura?” Perry asks after clearing her throat and Laura gratefully accepts the glass before downing half of it in one go.  
“You look a little thirsty there, Laur,” Lafontaine says with a grin and Laura chokes on the liquid in her mouth. Perry scowls at Lafontaine and whacks them on the arm before turning to busy herself with something else.

Carmilla seems to be completely oblivious to what’s going on and she turns towards the now choking girl with concern.  
“You okay there, creampuff?” Carmilla asks and Laura takes a few breaths after clearing her throat.  
“Yep, you’re fine. I’M fine, I’m fine,” Laura responds in a croaky voice and her eyes widen in realisation before she corrects herself. Beside her, Lafontaine cackles with laughter and even the oven mitt that is thrown from Perry’s direction does little to stop them. Carmilla ignores her friends and fixes Laura with a smirk, “I’m glad you think so,”   
“So, breakfast?” Laura asks, her voice a few octaves higher than it usually is.

~

“Thanks for the ride, Mother Hen,” Carmilla calls before shutting the door and sauntering off towards her car in the staff parking lot. Perry hums in disapproval and Laura simply watches her walk away, clutching tightly to her clothes from yesterday and desperately trying to push her gay back down to a manageable level. After a moment, Perry looks pointedly at the front seat and Laura tries to jump out, gets stuck on the seatbelt that is very much still buckled, before trying again and walking around to sit in the front seat. Laura doesn’t miss Perry’s heavy sigh and after she is safely settled into the seat they continue on towards the visitor’s parking lot.   
“I wanted to thank you for earlier, Laura. I’m not sure what you did, but you helped her,” Perry says after she pulls up near Laura’s car.   
“It’s what anyone would have done,” Laura tries to shrug it off but Perry looks at her with a steady gaze.  
“I’m not so sure about that,” Perry responds and Laura looks at her for a moment before nodding.  
“Thank you for everything, Perry,” Laura says as she unbuckles her seat belt and opens the car door.  
“You’re quite welcome, Laura. I hope to hear from you again soon,” 


	6. New Positions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ell is angry, and Laura is a strange mix of thirsty, frustrated, and excited.

“Carmilla,” Danny whispers for the fourth time before Carmilla finally snaps her gaze away from Ell to face her.  
“What!?” Carmilla hisses back and Danny just scowls before glancing pointedly at a flustered Perry. Carmilla’s glare drops from her face when she sees Perry very passionately giving the cutoff sign and she realises that she must have been too busy glaring at Ell to notice her cue.

“Right, crap. Um, that’s all we have for you today, folks. Tune into the next Silas Podcast to hear us talk about absolutely nothing of importance. I’m Carmilla Karnstein @HeyCarmilla, I’m sure you’ll be hearing from me again in no time,”  
“Ell @EllOL, you should know the drill by now,”  
“I’m Danny @DLawrence. Thanks for listening, guys,”  
“I’m Kirsch @ZetaK, I’ll catch you bros next time,”  
“And we’re out,” Laf calls out and Kirsch seems to be the only one with a smile still on his face.

Carmilla tosses her headphones on the table angrily and begins to stalk off but stops short when Perry steps in front of her with a frown.  
“Carmilla, I’m sorry to tell you this, but that was terrible. When you weren’t glaring at Ell, you were being ruder than usual and weren’t participating in the discussion in general,”  
“I know, Perry, and you can yell at me later if you’d like but I really need to be anywhere but here right now,” Carmilla tries to step around the older woman but she is promptly stopped when Perry grabs her arm lightly and directs her attention to the scene that was apparently transpiring behind them.

“This is bullshit, you can’t just fire me!” Ell is fuming, while Mattie seems utterly disaffected.  
“I’m afraid I can, and it is exactly what I’m doing. While the orders are coming from higher up and I don’t actually have any say in the matter, I must admit that I am thoroughly enjoying this after what you did to my sister,”  
“That’s what this is about? Because you are angry about what I did to your little sister? That’s a load of shit, you can’t fire me over what I do in my personal time. Professionally I haven’t done anything to warrant you firing me. You’ve got nothing,” Ell seems significantly more sure of herself but the predatory smile on Mattie’s face leaves no doubt on Carmilla’s mind about just how wrong she is.  
“Oh, so skipping out on scheduled shoots without any warning is the epitome of professionalism then?”  
“That happened once, you can’t fire me over that,” Ell’s confidence evaporates and she realizes that Mattie has got her.

“But it did happen, and once is all we can afford. Your previous work has been appreciated, but The Dean has deemed that you are no longer of use to Silas. You will receive your final paycheck at the end of the week, but as of now you are no longer associated with the Silas Channel. From my professional position, I wish you luck in the future, but as Carmilla’s sister, I very much hope to never hear of your existence again,”

Ell’s face turns a vibrant shade of red before she huffs and begins to storm off, headed right in Carmilla’s direction.  
“This is your fault, you little bitch. God, I wish I’d never even started something with you, it really wasn’t worth the effort. You are going to regret this, Carmilla,”

Carmilla isn’t even sure what was about to tumble out of her open mouth but she doesn’t have a chance to find out before Ell shoves past her and leaves the room. Carmilla finally manages to snap her jaw closed when she sees Mattie walking towards her.  
“You fired her?!” Carmilla exclaims and Mattie looks taken back.  
“Mother’s orders, darling. She heard word of what happened and how your work performance has dropped, naturally Mother would rather drop some ditsy blonde over her glittering girl. It’s a blessing really, Kitty Cat. That girl was a nasty piece of work. Now, I really must be going, I need to find Silas a new host,”  
With that, Mattie is off and out of the room in that strange, elegant way only she can pull off.

“What the frilly hell just happened?” Carmilla asks and Perry hums from beside her.  
“I’m really not sure myself,”

~  
  
Every time Laura thinks that she’s finally come down from the buzz of being close to Carmilla, something pops up and it starts all over again. The something that set her off this time, was yet another gifset on her dash of them together in their Two Truths and a Lie video. Laura had been doing so well not to give in and fall into the trash heap, sure she’d watched the video, she’d even watched the podcast when that aired, but she’d been doing so well.

This gifset, in particular, was about when she’d tricked Carmilla with her first-time story as well as a few other sexual innuendos, and after staring at the looping image of Carmilla’s face for what was probably a lot longer than necessary, her eyes drifted down to the tags.  
**#Laura can get it #Get some you little horndog #Carm is totally into it though #Look at that smirk #Hollstein**

Honestly, Laura isn’t entirely sure what happens next, one minute she is chuckling at the tags and willing herself to scroll away, the next she is scrolling through the Hollstein tag and accepting her new-found home in the trash heap.

Laura had already seen most of the older gifsets and text posts but since the two videos had aired, the tag had blown up again. The next gifset that caught Laura’s eye was about the time during the podcast when she had messed up with the headphones. Instead of pressing a button and turning the headset on as she was apparently supposed to, Laura had sat straining to hear what anyone was saying. Eventually, she got help when she realized that the other hosts had been trying to get her attention for quite some time.

Looking at the gifs, Laura watched as Carmilla chuckled and shook her head before leaning over with a relaxed, “I got you, Cutie.” Laura watched herself as she jumped visibly when the sound kicked in. The caption and tags below this post were much more interesting this time,  
**Careful Broodmaster your giant soft spot for the tiny dork** **is blocking the camera #These nerds are so into each other #So Gross #Hollstein #Laura Hollis #Carmilla Karnstein**

Curiosity gets the better of her and Laura is soon scrolling through the notes to see that most of the reactions are quite similar until she sees a familiar screen name pop up and she lets out a small cry of alarm as she pushes her laptop away. After a moment, Laura drags the device back onto her lap and clicks on the reblog to see what the response was.  
**HeyCarmilla: What can I say? I’m a sucker for a pretty face.**  
**#My hair looks great though #another one with the Cupcake**

Until this point, it hadn’t even crossed Laura’s mind that Carmilla had seen these posts as well. She takes notice of one tag in particular and quickly clicks on it, to her horror the tag is full of similar posts of the two of them that Carmilla had reblogged and added snarky and flirtatious comments to.

“Ugh, I swear she lives to frustrate me,” Laura grumbles and clicks back to her dash, before finally giving in and clicking on the messages that had been steadily building up.

_‘Dude, you were so awesome in the Silas videos. Are you gonna do anymore?’_  
_‘I’m glad you liked them, I had a lot of fun. I’d love to do some more, but unfortunately, I think it was really just a one-time thing, I technically wasn’t even meant to be in the Two Truths and a Lie video.’_

_‘What’s it like hanging out with Carmilla?’_  
_‘It’s definitely an experience, but if you can handle her strange sense of humour she’s pretty okay to be around actually.’_

_‘What was it like filming the videos? Was it like super professional and all that jazz?’_  
_‘It was actually really relaxed. Everyone was super friendly and whenever anything went wrong they were on top of it and had it fixed in no time.’_

Laura goes through and answers quite a few similar messages as well as filtering out the general, _‘You’re awesome,’_ and, _‘Hollstein is life,’_ messages. Once she’s satisfied with her responses Laura opens up her emails and squeaks in surprise when she sees another email from Mattie appears.

_Laura,_  
_It’s Mattie again, I’m sure you are aware of just how popular you are becoming with the Silas fan base. The view count on the videos you were featured in have skyrocketed over the last few days, and I’ve been told by the higher-ups to make the most of it._

_I’m officially offering you a full-time position as a Silas Host, and I would very enjoy having you on the team._

_I do hope to hear from you,_  
_Mattie._

“Holy Hufflepuff, okay. This is happening,” Laura mumbles before typing out a response.

_Mattie, hi._  
_It’s such an honour to know that you guys would like me to work with you. Honestly, it’s a dream come true and I would love to take the job but I don’t think I can._

_I borrowed the car from my dad last time, but I live about two hours away from Silas on a good day and I just don’t think I’d be able to make that trip every day._

_I’m so sorry,_  
_Laura._

It physically hurts to send back her response and Laura chews on her lip as she waits to see if Mattie is going to respond again.

_Laura,_  
_I can see why that would be a problem, however, I believe I have a solution that would be quite beneficial for you._

_I know you’ve seen the company provided share houses, and due to the recent departure of a staff member, it’s within the company’s interest to offer you a room._

_While it is unlikely that you would really need it, due to the close proximity the share houses have to the office, you would also be issued a company car should you need it._

_Since you already have such a strong fan following behind your interactions with Carmilla, and with the messy business with her previous partner, you would likely be paired with her for future videos, as well as a seat during the podcasts._

_If that is the only issue you have with accepting the job, I do hope you reconsider your decision and choose to join our team._

_Mattie._

_Mattie,_  
_Oh my God, okay that would be awesome. The job part, not the Carmilla part, it’s like a great opportunity career-wise, obviously. The Carmilla part is great too, but that’s not really the point._

_I’ll need to talk to my dad about it, but I’d love to accept the job._

_Thank you so much,_  
_Laura._

_Laura,_  
_Excellent, I’m glad to see you change your mind. I’ll have the details sorted out and sent to you._  
_Kind regards,_  
_Mattie._

Laura breathes out her excitement and clicks back onto Tumblr to write a new text post.  
_‘So, it turns out that Silas liked having me just as much as I liked being there. I’ve just officially been hired as a Silas Host and I’ll be paired up with Carmilla for future videos.’_

_I’ll keep you guys posted on any new developments.’_

Unsurprisingly, her followers begin to freak and the tag blows up once again but Laura is content to just scroll through her dash a little more before the real craziness begins.

She’s doing just that before she comes across an ask that Carmilla has just answered.  
_‘Holy crap, I just read that Laura got hired as a Silas Host. How do you feel about being paired up with her?’_  
_‘I only just found out a little while ago myself, but she is rather cute, and it’s fun to annoy her so it's kind of okay, or whatever.’_

Laura finds herself grinning at the response and she decides that now is the perfect time for a little payback.

**Kind of okay, huh?**

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been meaning to write this for like three or four weeks now, but it just hasn't happened. I actually wanted to take this opportunity to invite you guys to send in asks for Laura or Carmilla to answer on Tumblr. I'm sure I can continue to write them on my own but I thought this would be a cool way to make the story a little more interactive.


	7. Walk of Shame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura starts to move in, Carmilla has terrible stamina, and Laf has a field day.

“Well, this is…barren,” Laura comments when Carmilla swings the door to Laura’s new room open. “I thought this place was fully furnished?”   
“Oh, it was. Unfortunately, Ell decided that she wanted to take everything when she packed her shit, including the things that didn't belong to her,” Carmilla replies, leaning against the wall and watching as Laura drops the suitcases in her arms.

“Oh, well I guess I’m just going to have to make a trip back to my Dad’s to grab my old furniture,” Laura sighs and heads back out to get the rest of her belongings from the company car. Carmilla wordlessly trails after her and grabs a box as well, the two repeat the process a few times until everything is stacked somewhat haphazardly in the empty space of Laura’s room.

Once everything is situated, Laura flops against the wall before sliding down to sit. She fishes her phone from her pocket on the way down and dials her dad’s number, tapping the speaker button and setting her phone down on her leg. He picks up on the second ring, and Laura smiles softly at the broody girl that is leaning against her own wall this time, earning a small smile in return.

“That was quick. Are you missing me already, Little Bear?” The deep voice of her father draws Laura’s attention back to the task at hand.  
“You already know the answer to that, but I was actually calling to tell you that I’ll probably need to make the trip back again to grab my furniture from my old room. This place is a little less furnished than originally thought,”   
“That’s a long trip to make just for the stuff here, Laura. If we are being honest, I don’t think half of this stuff would survive the trip. The last time I went furniture shopping was when you outgrew your bed from when you were a kid, I’m half convinced that was the last bit of growing you did, but still,”

Carmilla bursts out into laughter and Laura glares at the phone at the last comment, “First of all, rude. Second, you might have a point about the furniture, it is a little outdated,”

Her father’s laughter joins Carmilla’s and Laura pouts for a moment before the pair calm down.   
“Who’s that with you, Little Bear? They have a stellar sense of humour,”   
“That’s Carmilla, and you only think so because she laughed at your joke,”   
“There may be some truth to that. Would that be the Carmilla you’ve had a crush on for years?”

Laura turns bright red and Carmilla smirks proudly as Laura snatches up the phone and turns off speaker.  
“Okay, that’s it. No more speaker phone for you,”   
“Oh relax, I’m just having a little fun. I mean it though, Laura. As much as I love having you with me, it’s not worth the trip. You’ll be better off just buying some new stuff,”  
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’ll talk to you later, Daddy. I love you,”  
“I love you too, Little Bear,”

Carmilla is still smirking when Laura hangs up and attempts to change the subject, “So, it turns out I need to go furniture shopping,”   
“Years huh?” Carmilla asks and Laura glares in response.  
“Oh shut up, he was just trying to mess with me,”  
“Sure he was, Cupcake. Come on then, we have to go steal Kirsch’s truck and then IKEA awaits,” Carmilla replies before pushing off the wall and snagging her keys from the counter on the way past.   
“Uggh, still the worst crush ever,” Laura mutters to herself.  
“I heard that,” Carmilla calls over her shoulder and Laura groans before following after her.

~

“Right, so what should we start with?” Laura asks, marvelling at the sheer size of the store.   
“You’ve never been to IKEA before have you?” Carmilla questions as she tugs Laura out of her collision course with a particularly pointy looking display table.   
“Nope, not at all,” Laura replies and heads of towards the section marked bedroom.   
“I suppose mattresses would be a good start then,” Carmilla suggests and gently guides Laura in the right direction once again.

“Holy wow, this is so comfy,” Laura remarks after flopping down on one of the tester mattresses. Carmilla stretches down on the mattress beside her with an arm supporting herself and hums in agreement.   
“And so very expensive, oh geez, I don’t think I can even afford to breathe in the direction of this bed,”

Carmilla chuckles as Laura notices the price tag on the bed frame, “Don’t worry too much about the pricing, Sweetheart. I put a call in to HQ about getting compensation for you, considering Ell sort of hijacked the fully furnished part of your new housing contract. Silas is footing the bill for your new stuff, it seems like Mattie has taken quite a liking to you. That’s another reason why I came with you, I’ve got a company card,”   
“Oh, well, in that case, we might be able to do a little more than just breathe with this mattress,” Laura says, noticing the suggestive nature of that statement a moment too late.   
“Is that an invitation?”

“Hey there, guys. How are you liking the mattress?”   
Carmilla and Laura both turn to see a staff member has appeared by the bed.   
“It’s great, super comfy. I think we might need a little more time to think about it though,” Laura replies with a smile and the man waves a hand in understanding.  
“No problem at all, buying a new mattress can be a big decision for couples. Just track me down when you’ve made a decision,”   
“Oh, we’re not,”  
“We sure will, Charlie,”  
Laura tries to correct the man while Carmilla waves him off after glancing at his name tag, smiling as he heads off down to see some other customers.

“Now he thinks we are together, you buttface,” Laura exclaims while backhanding Carmilla lightly on the stomach. Carmilla chuckles again before almost purring, “Would it really be so bad?” Laura’s anger vanishes as Carmilla leans in closer and she struggles to find words.   
“No...not that that would happen, I mean, you’re you and I’m me. Totally not couple material. Talk about wishful thinking, right?” Laura manages to ramble and takes a breath only when Carmilla moves back a bit.   
“Right,”   
“Anyway, should we go find Charlie and tell him that we’ll take this one? We still have a bunch of other stuff to get,”  
“Whatever you want, Cupcake,”

~

“Thank you so much, Charlie. You’ve been a really big help,” Laura says after tugging the truck door closed.  
“That’s no problem at all, Laura. All in a day’s work,” Charlie waves her off with a smile and he turns to head off back inside after Carmilla gives him a half-assed wave and her usual smirk.   
“He was nice, and not like an ‘I hate my life but I need to be nice if I want to get paid’ sort of way but like actually genuinely nice,” Laura comments as Carmilla starts up the truck.  
“Yeah, apparently there are a few people like that left around the place,” Carmilla replies quietly and starts off back towards the house.

~

“Okay, so that’s everything. What do we want to start with?” Laura asks and Carmilla shrugs after glancing at the various boxes around the room.   
“It’s all equally as tedious, we might as well start with the bed and go from there,”   
“Okay, bed it is. The drawer and bedside tables should be pretty easy after that, I’m a little skeptical about the desk though. I’ve heard they’re the real enemy,”   
“Whatever you say, Creampuff,”

~

“Uggh, why didn’t you tell me you suck at putting IKEA furniture together?” Laura huffs and Carmilla turns to face her with her hands raised.   
“Hey, I didn't realise I was, I always made Kirsch build this stuff for me. You aren’t particularly gifted either by the way,”  
“Uggh, don't remind me. I think if I just tighten this last screw, that should be it,”

“There see, it looks fine. We just need to throw some sheets, pillows, a blanket on there and it’s good to go,” Laura reports happily and Carmilla hums in a rather dubious manner but she tucks in the sheet corners when requested.

“Awesome,” Laura sighs after placing her yellow pillow onto the bed and both girls flop onto the bed. The decision in buying this mattress simply because of how comfy it was is really solidified when the bed frame completely falls apart and the mattress falls down with it. Carmilla and Laura both let out a shriek that the broodier of the two would no doubt deny in the future and the loud crash that the mattress makes must have drawn attention because Laf soon pops their head in.

“Are you two okay there? I think you may have taken the term ‘banging’ a little too literal,”   
“Shut up and help us, Brainiac,” Carmilla says and Laf gives them both a shit eating grin.  
“Sorry, but if you are losing the spark in the bedroom already, it’s a lost cause,”   
Laf manages to catch the pillow that is lobbed at their face before they laugh and decide to take pity on Laura and Carmilla, “I’m kidding, of course I’ll help. If I leave you two useless lesbians on your own for too much longer, there’s no telling what damage you’ll cause,”  
“Hey,”  
“Pipe down, you,”   
“Oh come on, what lesbian doesn’t know how to put IKEA furniture together?”

~

“Okay, we totally gave you a head start,” Laura points out and Laf laughs.  
“Yeah, by taking everything out of the box and almost losing the pieces maybe. What’s your excuse for the rest of the stuff?”   
“Alright, as much as we appreciate the help, it’s time for you to go,” Carmilla says as she pushes Laf back out the door and swings it shut before turning back to face Laura.  
“Don’t forget to use protection,” Laf calls through the door and Carmilla kicks the door, prompting Laf to laugh and move on.

“That was abrupt,” Laura says and Carmilla sighs before heading back to the now constructed bed.  
“I can only deal with so much ginger in a day,” Carmilla states after shucking off her boots and starting the process of unbuttoning her pants.  
“You do know that this isn’t actually your room, right?” Laura asks and averts her gaze after Carmila tugs off her jeans and undoes her bra beneath her shirt before tossing it to the side.   
“It’s late, and I’m tired. Apparently all of this strenuous activity today has really taken it out of me, and I’ll be damned if after all that work I don’t even get to sleep on this damn thing at least once,”   
“Well, it’s not like it's the first time we’ve slept together, right? You know though, it’s things like that that make me question your stamina, Karnstein,” Laura smirks and Carmilla quirks her brow at the challenge.   
“You are welcome to test it, but I can guarantee my stamina is up to par,”

Laura remains silent for a moment as if contemplating it and Carmilla finally slips into the bed and releases a content moan.  
“Damn, this thing really is comfy,”   
“If you keep making noises like that, I may have to take you up on your offer,” Laura warns, and Carmilla looks back at her in surprise.  
“What’s stopping you?” Carmilla asks, taking on a similar husk.   
“Someone already out of stamina, I don’t think it’d be too satisfying at the moment,” Laura reasons and Carmilla leans back on her arms.  
“Trust me, Cupcake, satisfaction is not something you need to worry about,”   
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Laura comments before tossing the fallen cushion back and Carmilla and getting herself ready for bed.

After a minute or two of Laura wandering around the room and disappearing into the bathroom to get changed she finally slides into bed and she too lets out a content moan.  
“Now who is making noises, hmm?”   
“Oh shut up, you,”   
“Goodnight, Laura,”  
“Goodnight, Carm,”

~

“I don’t want to say Walk of Shame, but Walk of Shame,”  
Carmilla groans as she turns to see Laf seated at the kitchen counter with a smug grin.   
“It’s not a Walk of Shame, Laf,” Carmilla calls and curses when her bra falls from her grasp.  
“Sure it’s not, you just walked half naked out of Laura’s room after sleeping with her, nothing suspicious there at all,”   
“I didn’t sleep with her, I mean I did, but not like that,”   
“But you wouldn’t be opposed to it,” Laf points out and Carmilla huffs before reaching down to pick up her bra and walking the rest of the way to her room.  
“You didn’t deny it,” Laf calls out and Carmilla puts her middle finger up.  
“I hate you,”   
“No, you don’t,”

“You know I can hear you guys, right?” Laura calls out through the door and Carmilla turns to point a threatening finger at Laf before they have the chance say anything else.

“Lafontaine, I hope you aren’t bothering Carmilla and Laura again,” Perry calls out from the kitchen and it’s Laf’s turn to flinch.  
“Of course not, Dear,”   
“Excellent, Laura, Carmilla, breakfast will be ready soon,”   
“Yeah, I don’t know how hungry you’ll be but I know you are both thirsty,” Laf snickers and has to dodge the bra that is suddenly aimed at their head. 


	8. Couch Chat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura checks Tumblr, Carmilla talks about her kinks, and Laura shoots her first Couch Chat video.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go, Emma. I updated. Enjoy, you little shit.

“I’m gonna go jump in the shower and then we can head into the office, Cupcake,” Carmilla calls as she finishes her coffee and heads out of the kitchen. 

“Sure thing, Carm. I just need to check Tumblr real quick and I’m good to go,” Laura responds and Carmilla gives her a lazy thumbs up before disappearing into her room. Perry and Lafontaine had already left for work, leaving Carmilla and Laura at home, and Carmilla had offered to drive Laura, rather than try and get her company car out from where Laf had accidentally boxed her in. Laura hadn’t exactly been opposed to the idea so now she was really just killing time before her first day. She also wanted to update her followers on her first day. 

 

Once Laura hears the door close she opens up her Tumblr page on her laptop and scrolls for a little before she opens up a new text post.

 

_ First day at Silas today, I might post some selfies later.  _

 

Laura’s ever increasing messages were calling to her and it had been awhile so she clicked on the icon and prepared herself for whatever might come next. 

 

_ ‘Do you ship Hollstein?’ _

_ ‘Uh, I mean I don’t not ship it. I can’t really say I do ship it either though because I live with Carm now, and that would be super weird if I shipped it, right?’ _

 

A minute or two later, Laura notices that someone has added to her ask.

**‘Oh, super weird,’**

“Dammit, Carm. I thought you were taking a shower?!” Laura yells from her position at the kitchen counter and she soon hears a muffled response.

“I got sidetracked halfway,” 

“Are you blogging naked in the bathroom?!” Laura asks and there is a brief silence. 

“Would you join me if I said I was?” 

 

Laura huffs at the girl but doesn’t respond, instead turning her attention back to her laptop. 

After scrolling some more Laura starts to see the phrase ‘IKEA and Chill’ popping up quite a lot and a feeling of dread washes over her as she types in Hollstein to find that the tag has blown up since she last checked it.

 

Apparently, someone had recognised them while they were at IKEA and posted some photos. The entire tag was full of various edits and text posts about their IKEA adventure including some of the two together on the test mattress, that she had to admit looked rather coupley.  One caption in particular that caught her eye read,  _ ‘So do you think it was the Broody Gay or the Tiny Gay that needed a new bed after breaking the old one with their kinky times?’ _

_ ‘Really, guys? Kinky times?’ _ Laura reblogs and waits to see if she will get a response from the person that posted. Instead, an all too familiar URL pops up again.

**‘It was Laura, I’m much more careful about my kinky times. It’s much harder to break a shower,’**

 

“Carm!” Laura yells again and she can already picture the girl holding up her hands in surrender. She also tries very hard not to imagine her doing anything else given her current situation. 

“Fine, fine. I’m showering. You know, the offer still stands if you feel like getting wet too. Kinky shower times isn’t a half bad idea,” 

Laura flushes as a new set of images enter her mind and she’d be lying if she didn’t suddenly have the urge to take a shower. 

 

As Laura is once again wrestling with her gayness, she notices a new post pop up in the tag and sees that someone has screen capped Laura and Carmilla’s last interactions about living together and about the kinky times thing with the caption,  _ ‘Hollstein definitely aren’t together. Sure, Jan.’  _

 

Laura stares at the post, contemplating adding a response and she doesn’t notice as Carmilla exits her room and peeks over her shoulder.

 

“They really want us to get together, huh?”

 

Laura jumps and almost falls off her chair at Carmilla’s sudden appearance which causes Carmilla to chuckle as she continues walking.

“I can’t say I blame them, really. You coming, Cupcake?” 

 

~

 

“Holy crapsticks, the chairs look even comfier in person,” Laura exclaims when she walks onto the Couch Chat set. They’ve moved it around a bit since the last time that Laura had watched a Couch Chat video but the blue lounge chair and red couch are still there, positioned around the same white table and a new ceramic question bowl. 

 

“Yeah, these things are super comfy. I’m still trying to get Boss Bro to let me take this one home,” Kirsch says as he flops down onto the blue chair and sinks in happily.

“Didn’t Mattie threaten to stuff you and turn you into the next couch if you called her ‘Boss Bro’ again, Beefcake?” Carmilla asks and sprawls out on the couch, taking up as much space as her small frame allows. 

“Well yeah, but we aren’t filming yet and she’s not in here today,” Kirsch replies and Carmilla raises a brow at him in indifference.

“Mattie sees all, you should be careful,” 

 

As the two already seated are talking, Laura realises that there aren’t actually any free seats and so she simply shrugs her shoulders and sits on the ground near Carmilla’s head with her back leaning against the couch. 

“Okay, guys we are almost-,” Laf pops up from behind the camera but stops when they see the seating arrangements.

“Really, guys. Laura, sit on the fucking couch. Carmilla, you prick, move over,” 

 

Carmilla makes no move to allow any space but Laura decides that the couch does look much more comfortable than the floor so she reaches down to gently pick Carmilla up by the shoulders and sit down before placing Carmilla bad down, now with Carmilla’s head in Laura’s lap.

“Oh, the shippers are going to love this,” Carmilla smirks and Laura sighs before placing her hand over Carmilla’s face, half wanting to smother the girl. 

“Uh, guys. We’re rolling,” Kirsch whispers and glances towards the camera, prompting the two girls to do this same.

“They will love that, too. Smooth, Sundance, smooth,” 

“You suck,” Laura grumbles and Carmilla hums before rolling on her side to face the camera.

 

“Welcome back to Couch Chat, guys. I’m Carmilla, and with me today, we have Kirsch the Manchild, and the new kid on the block, Laura. We’re here to answer questions that you’ve sent in, and since it’s her first time I think we should let Laura pick first. Really ease her into properly,” 

 

Laura rolls her eyes at the blatant innuendo but leans forward to grab a question out of the bowl, probably a little more than necessary if the muffled sounds coming from Carmilla is anything to go by. 

 

“Would you sleep with the person to your left?” Laura reads and before Laura has a chance to respond Carmilla turns first to Laura and then to the camera with a shit eating grin. 

“I already have,” Carmilla winks and Laura whacks her on the hip, earning a laugh from the girl. 

 

Laura rolls her eyes again and sighs before looking over at Kirsch, the person technically to her left.

“Sorry, Kirsch, but I’ve got too much of the gay to want to sleep with you,” Laura is apologetic but Kirsch simply waves it off.

 

“No problem, Little Nerd. I wouldn’t want to sleep with my Broody Bro either, I can respect when people just don’t dig me. There’s only one girl for me, anyway. Looking at you, D-Bear,” Kirsch winks at the camera and holds up his hands first to pump one against his chest and then to form a love heart, knowing full well that Danny will see this footage at some point in time. 

 

“That answers that question I guess,” Laura says and crumples up the piece of paper before placing it on the launch pad of the miniature catapult on the table. With relative ease, Laura lines up the shot and sends the paper flying to hit the lense dead centre. “Yes!” Laura throws up her hands and does her best attempt at a victory dance while remaining seated. As Laura is celebrating both Kirsch and Carmilla sit up in surprise.

 

“How the hell did you do that on your first try? We’ve been here for years and we still struggle to hit the damn thing,” Carmilla exclaims while Kirsch just stares in open-mouthed awe. 

“I guess I’m just better than you,” Laura replies smugly and writes her name in the book on the table before leaning back in her seat. 

“This is bullshit,” Carmilla huffs before laying her head back down on Laura’s lap.

 

“Your turn, Big Guy. Brawn before beauty,” Carmilla says and Kirsch leans forward eagerly to grab a question from the bowl. 

“Ooh, this is a good one. If you could be any animal for a day what animal would it be? I would be a giraffe, no doubt about it. They are like super majestic and it would be so sweet,” 

 

“Well, you are about the right size. Keep chasing that dream of yours,” Carmilla drawls and Laura sighs disapprovingly at Carmilla. 

“Have you got something better?” Laura asks and Carmilla shrugs. 

“I’d like to be a panther,” 

“No explanation for that one?” Laura questions and makes a face and shakes her head.

“Nope,” 

 

“What about you, Little Nerd?” Kirsch asks after noticing that Laura and Carmilla had simply been staring at each other for a few minutes now. 

“Oh, um. I guess it would be pretty cool to be an owl for a bit,” Laura says after breaking her gaze with Carmilla. 

“Shocker,” Carmilla comments and Laura’s brow wrinkles in confusion before Carmilla raises an eyebrow and glances at Laura’s torso.

Laura follows her gaze and sighs before muttering, “Of course I’m wearing my owl sweater today,” 

 

Laura turns her attention back to Kirsch as he crumples his paper and takes a shot with the catapult. The piece of paper misses by a long shot and is narrowly avoided by JP, earning a sheepish smile and a mouthed ‘Sorry’. 

 

“My turn, then,” Carmilla reaches over and plucks a question from the bowl. 

“If you could change gender for one day, would you do it and what would you do as the opposite gender?”

 

“Oh, I know. I’d go with Danny and her friends to the next Summer Society/Zeta Reunion so that I’d know which of my old Zeta buddies were most Un-Bro like and needed to be told how to properly respect women. I already know that girls have a hard time at parties, but there’s only so much I can learn about it as a dude, you know?” Kirsch pipes up and both Carmilla and Laura look at him.

 

“That’s surprisingly noble of you, Kirsch,” Laura says and Kirsch ducks his head for a second.

“Well yeah, just cause I look like your typical frat boy doesn’t mean I have to act like one. My best friend is a chick, and my other best bud is a totally rad person too,” Kirsch reaches out a fist to Carmilla who glances at it for a second before reaching out to bump it, and then simply fist pumps his chest, a gesture that is returned by Laf from behind the camera. 

 

“They grow up so fast,” Carmilla holds a hand of her hand and pretends to be all choked up before she rolls her eyes but Laura can see a genuine smile tugging at her lips. Laura takes the momentary silence as an opportunity to answer the question. 

 

“I wouldn’t mind being able to go to the beach with friends without having to worry about getting ogled by creepy old dudes and twelve-year-old boys every time I wear my bikini,” Laura says and Carmilla hums in agreement before answering as well. 

 

“I’d like to be able to have a drink at a bar without having to be harassed by sweaty, hormonal males,” 

 

“That question turned out to be a bit of a bummer, huh?” Laura asks and Carmilla nods. 

“The person who asked was probably expecting us to say jerking off and peeing standing up or something,” 

“Well, we do have a whole day after all. I wouldn’t throw those options away too quickly,” Laura reasons and Carmilla shrugs in agreement. Both girls seem to stare off into space for a moment before Carmilla decides to crumple up her paper and reposition herself so to aim the catapult. The paper soars through the air and hits Laf square in the forehead.

 

“Oh wow, you guys really can’t hit the lense, huh?” Laura asks and Carmilla smirks up at her. 

“Who says I was aiming for the lense that time?” 

 

Laura and Carmilla both glance over to where Laf is glaring and Carmilla smiles innocently while Laura lets out a giggle at their friend’s obvious annoyance. 

 

“Have we got time for one more question?” Kirsch asks and JP nods in confirmation. 

“Oh, my turn again,” Laura says before grabbing another question. 

“What do think everyone should experience in high school?” 

 

“Orgasms,” Carmilla deadpans and Kirsch and Laura glance at each other before shrugging and making a face of agreement. 

“I guess we can’t really argue with that one,” Laura responds and sends the paper ball dead on target once again.

 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Carmilla exclaims as Laura begins her victory dance again. 

  
  
  



	9. Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang celebrates Laura's first week, and drunken shenanigans ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emma was pleased about how much praise she was receiving from you guys, and I doubt she's going to let it go for a while so we've dubbed her as "The Emma". If any of you would like to see what "The Emma" looks like, or what I look like for that matter, you are welcome to check it out here. 
> 
>  
> 
> https://instagram.com/p/BFs4aoZxHcw/
> 
> I leave you with a new chapter, and a quote was "The Emma" herself. 
> 
> “I am their God. Her dur dur.” -The Emma

“Honestly, I can’t stress enough what a terrible decision this was. Clexa was the love story that others aspire to be, and just like that, it’s gone. Lexa was so well written, and the Grounder culture was amazing. There was just so much wasted potential. Ughh, screw the Sky People and their ginormous plot holes, the Grounders are the real victims here. I would watch the hell out of a Grounders spin-off, that’s really where the money is. None of this Bellarke crap, I want to see the next generation of Nightbloods,” Laura pauses to take a breath and Carmilla takes the brief opportunity to cut in.  
“I hate to cut you off, Cupcake. You are clearly on a roll here, but we actually have to wrap it up,”  
“What? Already?” Laura asks, looking around at the other hosts and then at the time.  
“I’m afraid so, you’ve been ranting about the wasted potential of The 100 for the last 45 minutes,”  
“Oh,”

~

“So, why are we taking a detour?” Laura asks as Carmilla curses at a driver in the lane beside her.  
“It’s Friday, and She Who Must Not Be Named stole all of the alcohol when she left so we are taking a detour to the Liquor store. Momma needs some of the good stuff,” Carmilla responds, still keeping an eye on the asshole in the other lane that keeps trying to cut her off.  
“Can we get some cookies on the way home?”  
“Like you even have to ask,”

Laura beams at the girl in the driver’s seat as they finally make it to the liquor store conveniently placed next to a grocery store.

“I’ll go get the booze if you want to go grab the cookies,” Carmilla offers and Laura nods eagerly before hurrying off at a pace that is a tad too quick for a grown adult. A few minutes later, the pair meet at the car again, Laura with arms full of cookie packets, and Carmilla with a bottle of alcohol under each arm.

The drive back is mostly uneventful, with Laura happily munching on cookies and feeding one to Carmilla whenever she receives enough pointed looks. Laura gets sidetracked at one point and ends up shoving a cookie into Carmilla’s already occupied mouth, resulting is a sight that is too adorable to pass up. While Carmilla is still struggling to keep the cookies in her mouth, Laura leaves over and snaps a selfie of the two. Laura is in the process of posting the photo of “Carm the Cookie Monster,” when they pull up into the driveway.  
“You head on in, Laur, I’ll grab the stuff,” Carmilla says and Laura shrugs before heading inside and unlocking the door. This probably would have been more successful if Laura didn’t still have a cookie in both hands and before long, Carmilla is behind her again unlocking the door and pushing it open.

The apartment is dark when they enter and before Laura has the chance to reach around for the light switch, the room suddenly lights up.  
“SURPRISE!”

Laura is about the break the news to the people gathered around the apartment that it isn't her birthday when she takes notice of the banner haphazardly hung on the wall.  
‘You Survived the First Week!’  
“You guys threw a party to celebrate my first week at work?” Laura asks, genuinely surprised at the kindness of her new friends.  
“Of course we did, Little Nerd. I mean, it was Broody Bro’s idea, but still,” Kirsch is the first to respond and Laura turns to look at a now blushing Carmilla.  
“You did this for me, Carm?”  
“It was a joint effort,” Carmilla mumbles and Laura beams at her before pressing a kiss to the girl’s cheek. Carmilla stiffens in surprise and as a few whistles sound, Laura remembers that they are standing in front of their friends and workmates.

“Right, well let’s get this party started, I guess,” Laura says and receives a few cheers before Laf appears with a shot in each hand. Laura is about to down the shot when she spies Mattie nearby and reconsiders.  
“Here you go, Kirsch,” Laura says as she offloads her shot onto Kirsch while Laf is busy downing their own. Laura watches as Kirsch shrugs and downs the shot, she doesn’t notice the presence behind her.

“I do hope you aren’t passing up on your shots on my account,” Mattie purrs and Laura jumps a foot.  
“What is it with your family and sneaking up on me?” Laura asks and Mattie simply smirks.  
“You didn’t answer my question,” Mattie raises an eyebrow.  
“Right, um, well. It’s just that you are literally powerful enough to fire me if I get on your nerves, so I might be a little bit hesitant to get wasted around you,” Laura explains awkwardly and Mattie chuckles.  
“Darling, I can assure you that each and every person here has already made a fool of themselves in front of me more than they’d like to admit, my sister in particular. They’re all still employed, and I’m already quite fond of you, so I can guarantee that you have nothing to worry about on that front,”  
“Oh, well that’s good. That’s probably good,” Laura responds and Mattie watches her with an amused look.  
“Wait, what has Carm done to embarrass herself?”  
“Stories for another time, I’m afraid,” Mattie replies before sauntering off and leaving Laura to wonder if that entire exchange was really just a vivid hallucination.

“Uggh, God. It burns,”  
Laura’s attention is immediately drawn to where Carmilla is covering her eyes and Danny is giving her the finger while still making out with Kirsch.  
“Someone alert the media, I’ve found BigFoot engaged in what appears to be a mating ritual,” Carmilla exclaims and as Laura makes her way towards them, Danny breaks away from Kirsch to glare at Carmilla.  
“Carmilla, you literally made us all throw a party so that you could impress a girl you haven’t even had the ovaries to ask out yet, I think I can make out with my boyfriend without having to take your shit,” Danny state and Carmilla immediately gears up.  
“Okay, first of all, you agreed to help with the party,”

“What are we talking about?” Laura asks after walking up to the trio.  
“Nothing,”  
“How whipped Carmilla is,”  
“Broody Bro’s crush on you,”  
The responses are spoken that the same time and turn into a jumbled mess of words but the point comes across and Laura smirks while the girl in question glares at the other two.  
“I will destroy you,”  
“With those little arms?” Danny asks and Carmilla takes a step forward but stops when Kirsch’s hand shoots up into the air.  
“Oh, oh, oh. We should totally settle this with Beer Pong. Me and D-Bear, against you and Little Nerd,”  
“I’m down,” Laura pipes up and Carmilla looks from Danny to Laura before shrugging.  
“Alright, it’ll be your funeral either way,”

Kirsch jumps up in excitement and runs off to go set up for the game, Danny simply rolls her eyes before following after him.

“So, what’s this about a crush, huh?” Laura asks and Carmilla goes wide-eyed.  
“Pfft, what? Is that what they were talking about? I don’t even remember, we should definitely go play this game though,” Carmilla tries to play it cool and begins backtracking, almost running into JP in the process.

~

“One more cup and you guys lose,” Kirsch crows as Carmilla downs the contents of yet another cup.  
“This is bullshit. Those damn noodle limbs are cheating, look at the wingspan they’ve got,” Carmilla exclaims after throwing the cup down.  
“They’ve kept their elbows behind the table, Carmilla. The length of their arms has no bearing on the results of the game,” JP points out, sticking with his appointed role as the judge. Laura tries to sink a ball and pouts when she misses by a significant amount.  
“Okay, I swear their cups are smaller,” Laura complains and Carmilla nods in agreement as they watch Danny sink the final ball.  
“Oh Crap,”  
“Goddammit,”  
“Victory!”

“Right, well now that that’s settled. It’s been suggested that we play Spin the Bottle,” Perry says after Laura downs the final cup, accepting defeat.  
“Are we all drunken teenagers again?” Mattie asks and everyone else shrugs before they all make their way to where Laf is waiting with an empty bottle.

“Oh, I call dibs on going first,” Kirsch shouts as everyone settles down in a circle. Receiving no objections, Kirsch leans forward and spins the bottles, watching eagerly as it lands on Danny.

“Ew, what? I have to kiss the guy I’m dating? Gross,” Danny deadpans before rolling her eyes and leaning forward to grab the back of Kirsch’s neck, pulling him into a kiss.

Once the two separate, Danny spins and raises a brow as it lands on JP. Before Danny even leans in, JP lifts her hand and presses a quick kiss to the top of it before retreating back to his seat.  
“Well, aren’t you a gentleman?” Danny comments and JP blushes before leaning forward and spinning the bottle. It comes to a stop pointing at Perry, and JP repeats the previous interaction without missing a beat.

Perry spins the bottle and smile when it lands on Lafontaine. Laf seems to want to take a page out of JP’s book and leans forward to press a kiss to Perry’s cheek. She’s apparently having none of that.  
“Nice try, Sweetie,” Perry states, catching Laf by their tie and pulling their lips together.

A grinning Laf spins again and fakes disgust when it lands on Carmilla.  
“Ew, not the vampire,”  
“Pfft, don’t act like you’ve never thought about it,” Carmilla scoffs but leans forward and kisses Laf quickly before reaching down and spinning the bottle.

Suggestive noises and a few sighs of relief sound when the bottle points to Laura.  
“Well, would you look at that, Cutie,” Carmilla smirks and tries her best to ride out the sudden wave of nerves that washes over her as Laura leans in. It’s over far too quickly, and Carmilla finds herself fighting back her disappointment despite the fact that her lips are tingling from the brief contact.

Laura breathes out and pushes past her disappoint at how quickly the kiss was over, despite how freaking awesome it felt. Laura spins the bottle and can’t help the smile that spreads over her face when it lands on Carmilla.  
“Eager for Round 2?” Carmilla asks, but a genuine smile is present through her smirk.

As the two meet this time, Laura decides she’s going to get a little more bang for her buck with this one and fights a smile when she slips in her tongue and Carmilla lets out a surprised squeak.

As the two pull back, they completely miss the knowing glances being exchanged around the circle and the fact that Lafontaine runs over to the kitchen and pours two shots. Carmilla gets her breathing under control again, trying and failing to forget the unexpected feeling of Laura’s tongue against her own, as well as the pathetic squeak that slipped out in her surprise. She spins the bottle once more and hold her breath as the bottle starts to slow down, she lets out the breath in disappointment when the bottle spins past Laura. At least until Mattie’s hand snakes out and stops the bottle pointing to Laura.  
“Whoo, Seven Minutes in Heaven!” Kirsch cries and everyone else nods in agreement,  
“I saw that,” Carmilla protests, her desire to kiss Laura again being overshadowed at the obvious display of cheating that wasn’t initiated by her.  
“Saw what, Kitty Cat?”  
Carmilla shakes her head in amazement as she feels hands gently shoving her in the direction of her bedroom. She looks over to see Laura is receiving the same treatment. Before they get to the bedroom though, Laf steps in front of them with a shot in each hand.  
“What’s this for?” Carmilla asks and Laf grins.  
“Just because we are playing a game for teenagers doesn’t mean we can’t still act like adults,”

Laura glances at Carmilla, seeming in acceptance as they both down the shots before continuing the walk to Carmilla’s room. The air is suddenly tense once the door is shut and the two girls stand staring at one another.  
“So, Seven Minutes in Heaven, huh?” Laura says and Carmilla hums, not sure of how to proceed. Another 30 seconds passes in silence before they both seem to reach a decision.

“Fuck it,”  
Carmilla and Laura step forward at the same time and if Laura thought the first kiss was awesome, this is so much better. Somehow they end up on the bed and before long Laura rolls Carmilla onto her back in order to straddle her hips. Carmilla doesn't have it in her to try and take control of the situation, perfectly content to feel Laura’s hips rolling against her own. She loses all bearing of anything beyond the feel of Laura’s lips against her own and decides that if she died right now, she’d tell God to shove it and send her right back down to keep kissing this girl. Without warning, it’s over and Laura is pushing herself up and staring at Carmilla with wide eyes.

“Oh no, I ship it,” Laura gasps and rolls off of Carmilla and onto the bed. As Carmilla sits up she feels that last shot of alcohol hit her, and as she leans onto her side and looks over at Laura who is now running her finger along one of the constellations on the bedspread, she realises that the same thing has probably happened to Laura.

“I like these lines, they are very pretty lines,” Laura comments and Carmilla just stares at her in adoration. Laura looks up and sees Carmilla watching her, before reaching a hand upon to gently stroke Carmilla’s jaw.  
“These lines are pretty too,”

“God, I wish we had more than seven minutes,” Carmilla murmurs before a realisation washes over it.  
“Wait, it’s got to have been seven minutes by now,”

Without waiting for a response, Carmilla gets up to walk to the door.  
“Wait, please don’t leave me, Carm,” Laura calls and Carmilla stops to look back at her.  
“I wouldn’t dream of it, Sweetheart. I’ll be back in just a sec,”

As Carmilla opens the door she is expecting to see everyone piled up at the door but finds no one there. Cautiously, Carmilla steps out into the kitchen and finds that almost everyone has disappeared. Carmilla walks a little bit further and finds Laf grinning like an idiot on the couch.  
“You guys need anything? Some snacks, a condom? Let me know,”  
“Stuff it, Laura is way too far gone for anything to happen. I came out to tell you all not to bother with the timer.” Carmilla huffs and somehow Laf’s grin grows even wider.  
“What timer? You’ve been in there for 20 minutes already,”  
“You guys suck,” Carmilla grumbles as she realises that her friends had set her up.

Carmilla turns on her heel and walks over to Laura’s room to grab her yellow pillow and something for the girl to sleep in. Before long, Carmilla is back into her room and hands Laura the clothes, glad that she is still coherent enough to dress herself. At least until she strips down to her underwear right in front of her and Carmilla finds herself cursing Laf for giving them that final shot. Once both girls have changed into sleep clothes and are settled into bed, it doesn’t take very long before they both pass out, comfortably tangled around one another.

~

“Carmilla, Laura. I made breakfast for you,” Perry announces gently and nudges the two girls as they begin to stir. Both Carmilla and Laura wake up bleary eyed and more a little grumpy at being woken up, neither notice as Laf snaps a picture of the two of them.

 

 

 


	10. Family Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura and Carmilla have a chat, the gang goes out to dinner together, and an unwelcome guest crashes the party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update got held up waiting for the update on my other story, so I'm sorry and I will hopefully update again soon. The Emma hasn't even gotten any tidbits on this chapter yet, but I hope you all enjoy.

“Well, I guess we should leave you two to finish,” Laf winks and Perry slaps them on the arm.  
“Finish waking up, is what I’m sure they meant,” Perry clarifies and pulls a smirking Laf out of the room by their arm.

“So, that was nice of them to bring us breakfast in bed,” Laura muses and chews her lip.   
“Yeah, well, Perry probably felt bad about how much we drank last night,” Carmilla replies and Laura nods before averting her eyes.  
“Right, last night. Some things definitely happened last night,”

“You could say that,” Carmilla answers after watching the girl for a moment, disappointed that she isn’t able to get a read on her.  
“She’s not wrong though, we did drink a lot,” Laura continues and Carmilla feels another twinge of disappointment go through her.

“How much do you remember of last night?” Carmilla asks, already predicting what is likely to happen next.  
“I remember everything, at least I think I do. I’m kind of hoping some of it was just a dream, or at least in my head,” Laura says and Carmilla feels her entire being droop.  
“Oh,”   
“I mean, I’m pretty sure I said something along the lines of ‘I Ship It’ and that is just plain embarrassing and I have no idea why my intoxicated, apparently overactive, brain decided to express that thought,” Laura rambles and Carmilla is too caught up in her own thoughts to think any further about her words or beyond how cute Laura looks right now. The girl has some ridiculous bedhead going on and is clutching one of Carmilla’s pillows in her lap. Add that to just how flustered Laura seems to be getting, and Carmilla is a goner. Unfortunately, Laura seems to want to forget what happened altogether because she still hasn’t addressed what actually happened last night.

“This isn’t something we need to talk about,” Carmilla sighs, giving Laura an easy out.   
“Oh, um. Okay, then. That’s fine I guess,” Laura says quietly, a little hurt that Carmilla seems to be icing her out all of a sudden.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m still tired after last night so I’m going to sleep. You can stay or you can go, it doesn’t bother me. If you stay, just try to keep the noise and general level of twitchiness to a minimum,” Carmilla states in a bored tone and rolls over to face away from Laura before she can respond.   
“There’s no twitching,” Laura mutters before looking around the room and seeing her phone on the nightstand.   
“I’ll um, I’ll stay. I guess I can check Tumblr or something,” Laura says but doesn’t receive a response. “Thank you, by the way. For last night, I know you the party was your idea,”   
Laura can see that Carmilla tenses but she still remains silent.

Laura is disappointed, to say the least, that Carmilla seems to want to forget about what happened last night but she simply sighs and opens up her Tumblr app. Her first tip-off that something is wrong is the number of messages she has, the second is the number of mentions.

“Oh no,” Laura groans when she sees what is all over the Hollstein tag.

“I distinctly remember requesting that you keep the noise a minimum,” Carmilla grumbles but Laura reaches over and taps the girl insistently as she continues to scroll.  
“Carm,”   
“What is it now, Cupcake?”   
“Laf,” Laura responds and Carmilla turns around to sit up and scowl.  
“What about them?”

Instead of responding, Laura simply shoves the phone in Carmilla’s face and watching as understanding dawns on the girl’s face.   
“Oh,”

The tag is full of what appears to be tweets and photos detailing most of what happened last night, all linked to Laf’s Twitter account.

The initial surprise, Beer Pong, Spin the Bottle, and even a few random photos of the two girls together that look suspiciously coupley. To top it all off is a picture that Laf apparently took of them this morning right before being woken up, still with eyes closed limbs tangled together. The caption on that one reads, _‘See guys, I told you they would be fine’._

“I’m going to kill them,” Carmilla growls and starts to get up.  
“Not if I get to them first,” Laura replies and is out the door first.

“Lafontaine! What the hell is this?” Laura yells when she exits Carmilla’s bedroom and spots Laf and Perry about to leave the apartment.

“I’ll meet you in the car, Perr,” Laf urges and Perry gives them a disapproving look before shaking her head and walking out of the door.

“You live-tweeted about us?!” Laura demands and watches as Laf gives a sheepish grin while Perry pauses temporarily before shaking her head again and walking out of sight.

“Hey, Laura! You sure seem sweet. What’s a girl like you up to these days? You know, like how you doin? Hopefully, you’re having a great time. You know, like living life to the fullest. Amiright? Anyway, get back at this lil person if you feel like shooting the talky talky. Amiright or amiright baby!? Well, totes magotes baby chilli flake. Sizzling spitter and sputter and spicy and spatter. Anyways baby. Totes magotes message baby chilli flake.. lates magnates,” Laf winks and shoots finger guns as they bolt out the door.   
“Jesus Christ,” Carmilla mutters as Laura looks like she is about ready to flip a table.

~

“Laf, I swear to God. If I get one more tweet mention from you in my notifications,” Laura threatens but Laf holds up their hands in mock surrender, setting their phone down on the table and sliding it to Perry’s waiting hand.

“Is this Hollstein debacle still going on?” Mattie asks with only mild interest and Laura glares at Laf.  
“It would have died down by now if Lafontaine would stop tweet about us to fueling the fire,”   
“Hey, I’m just giving the people what they want, Laur. You can’t fault me for that,” Laf replies and Carmilla has to pry a fork from Laura’s death grip.   
“Let’s maybe not commit murder in a crowded diner, okay?”

“Ohh, I totally think that Bro has our food this time,” Kirsch announces in excitement, startling JP beside him.   
“Babe, you’ve said that the last four times the waiter walked out,” Danny points out and rolls her eyes before pressing a kiss to the cheek of the now pouting Kirsch.

“Oh, isn’t this sweet? Family dinner I see,”

Everyone at the table tenses when Ell appears, Carmilla and Laura in particular.

“Ell,” Carmilla starts cautiously but is interrupted by a girl at Ell’s side.  
“Which one is Carmilla again?”

“It’s that one, how about I introduce you? Would you like that, lovely?” Ell is sweet to the girl but the smirk that she gives Carmilla is an entirely different story.   
“Carmilla, this is my girlfriend, Alice. Alice, this is the girl that thought I was in love with her,”

Carmilla locks her jaw and glares down at the table while everyone else falls silent. Mattie straightens, no doubt preparing to tear Ell a new one but Laura speaks first.  
“As lovely as it is to see you, Ell. I think you should be on your way,” Laura’s tone is polite but her stare is icy.

“Still keeping this one around, huh? Honestly, Carmilla, I knew I was out of your league but I really thought you would be able to do better than some glorified fangirl,” Ell taunts and pouts at Carmilla. Carmilla still hasn't spoken but has begun to visibly shake. Without a second thought, Laura grabs Carmilla’s hand and turns her attention back to Ell.

“Alright, I’m going to stop you right there before you manage to piss me off any more than you already have. I was being polite before, but I’m about ready to knock you on your ass so I suggest you apologise to Carm and be on your way,” Laura’s tone is deadly and her eyes hold a fire far too big for someone of such small stature. Everyone else at the table is watching Laura with wide eyes and seem to be more than a little unnerved. Alice seems to have at least enough sense to take a step back but despite the new sense of fear in Ell’s eyes, she stands tall and continues to stare Laura down.

“Cute, but you’ll have to try harder than that. Carm, here, isn’t worth the air she breathes and there’s no way in hell she’s going to get an apology from me. I am curious though, just how close the two of you are. You seem perfectly content to act as her guard dog, so I wonder if you’ve met Mommy Dearest yet. You haven’t seen fucked up until you’ve had a family dinner with that woman,” It’s no wonder Carm is as big of a basket case as she is,” Ell says and Laura is about ready to make good on her word.

“I think I can speak for the rest of us when I say that the two of you aren’t welcome here, so I think I’m perfectly justified with anything I say or do next. Honestly, Ell, if I didn’t hate you so much I’d probably admire you. Never have I seen someone so delusional as this think that Carmilla is anything but amazing. She’s worth more than this world, and I really can’t believe that she wasted so much of her time on such a selfish, shallow, truly terrible excuse of a person,” Laura has a small smile on her face, thoroughly enjoying finally speaking her mind to this girl.

“Watch your mouth, Bitch. You do not want to mess with me,” Ell warns but her confidence is starting to falter.   
“Oh, I really do,” Laura finally stands with a smile that really should be a warning sign for the girl in her crosshairs. Apparently Ell takes the hint because her smile falters and she takes a step back.

“Laura,” Carmilla speaks quietly back it’s enough to pull the girl’s attention to her.   
“Please don’t, she’s not worth the trouble,” Carmilla pleads quietly as she looks up at Laura without sparing a glance at Ell. Laura gives Carmilla a soft, reassuring smile before nodding and turning back to Ell.   
“Our food is coming, Ell. so unless you want me to speak to the waiter and have you escorted out, you should leave now,” Laura doesn’t miss the excited sound from Kirsch in the corner as she smiles that cold smile at Ell again.  
“Whatever, you’re as worthless as she is. I’m out of here,” Ell scoffs and starts to drag Alice away.

“Oh, and Ell?” Laura calls out and the girl in question stops to look back at her as she continues, “Next time you decide to cause trouble and make Carmilla feel as shitty as you already have, I’m not going to waste time being polite,”

Ell tenses her jaw for a moment before turning back around and walking out.

Laura sits back down and lets out a breath to get her temper back in check while everyone else looks at her with reactions ranging from surprise and small amounts of fear, to approval and adoration.

“You can all stop staring at me now and help the waiter figure out which orders are which,” Laura says and the rest of the gang turn to the waiter that has arrived bearing food. Before long everyone has their food and Laura is eating her fries with one hand and rubbing gentle circles onto the soft skin of Carmilla’s hand with the other. The girl in question eats her food slowly and give reassuring squeezes of her hand every now and then.

“Worth more than the world, huh?” Carmilla asks quietly with a soft smile on her face.   
“Eat your food,” Laura responds with a smile of her own and bumps her shoulder against Carmilla’s lightly.

Conversations start back up when Laura’s phone vibrates on the table beside her and when she sees the twitter notification she fixes Laf with a glare that would scare the devil.   
“Laf,” Laura growls and Lafontaine’s eyes widen in fear.  
“I swear to God, I didn’t do anything,”

“Actually, you’ll find that that was me,” Mattie speaks and slides her phone back into her purse.   
“I’m sorry?” Laura asks with confusion and Mattie raises a brow before smirking and gesturing to Laura’s unchecked phone.  
“I was tweeting from Silas’ Twitter account about a new video,” Mattie explains and Laura looks at Carmilla.  
“Uh, what video? Why did you mention me in it?”   
“I mentioned you, my dear Laura, because you and Carmilla are going to be doing a Q&A. Hollstein seems to have become rather popular and I do believe it’s time we feed the masses,”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did a rough digital painting of the Couch Chat scene, so you guys can check that out and maybe follow me for more tidbits about my stories. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. 
> 
> http://almost-borderline.tumblr.com/post/144842635902/super-rough-painting-i-did-of-one-of-the-scenes-in


	11. Questions and Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part One of the Q&A

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be hanging out with The Emma shortly, so I've decided to hold off for a bit longer and wait until I can watch her react to it. I suppose it won't really matter by the time you guys see this. This one is also a little short but I'll try and update again in a day or two. Anywho, enjoy.

“Cupcake, relax. You’ve been stressing about this all week,”   
“Uggh, I know. I just don’t want to lie to my followers, but Mattie is essentially telling us to milk this whole Hollstein thing for all it’s worth,” Laura sighs and continues to fidget.   
“So just don’t lie?” Carmilla says simply and Laura stops for a minute.   
“Mattie told us to do a Q&A, but that doesn’t mean we have to lie about anything. Just answer the questions truthfully, I guarantee that the answers will already be questionable enough to satiate the shippers,” Carmilla continues and Laura frowns before socking Carmilla on the shoulder.

“What the frilly hell was that for?” Carmilla almost falls off the couch in surprise and Laura glares at her, “I’ve been stressing all week and you just now decide to tell me that?”   
“I’ve been trying to tell you that all week,” Carmilla exclaims with her hands out in front of her.  
“Well, clearly you need to work on your communication skills,” Laura huffs and Carmilla pulls back.  
“I could say the same for you,” Carmilla mutters, mildly annoyed and quite possibly passive-aggressive over the fact that she can’t make heads or tails of whatever the hell she has going on with the girl in front of her.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Laura asks, already irritated over the fact that Carmilla has been flirting with her for the past week despite the fact that she completely iced her out the morning after the party and made it clear that whatever the hell is going on with them isn’t relationship material.

“Uh, guys? If you want to continue your little lovers’ spat later, we’re ready to film,” Laf interrupts and the two girls quickly remember that they are in front of the camera and not somewhere to be having an argument.   
“Then let’s film,” Carmilla says, pushing her annoyance down in favour of getting some usable footage. The less time that they have to spend in front of the camera, the better, because apparently Laura isn’t feeling to pleasant towards her.

Laf gives the signal and Carmilla glances down at the paper in her hand before realising that she’d rather Laura read her questions first.  
“Would you like to go first?”   
“Sure, why not,” Laura replies and looks down at her own paper.

“When was the first time you became aware of me?”  
“The time you just about threw yourself at me when we first met was a pretty good example of awareness,” Carmilla answers with a smirk, already that the girl would take the bait.  
“Okay, I was pushed and you know it,” Laura states but she does smile at the memory. Carmilla gives her a sceptical look before holding up her hands in surrender and gesturing for her to read the next question.   
“What’s your favourite memory of me?”   
“I only get to pick one?” Carmilla asks and Laura fights a smile.  
“I guess, the one that comes to mind is when you came home to the surprise party that I threw for you last week. You had the biggest smile on your face all night, it was wonderful,” Carmilla smiles softly at the memory and Laura can feel her cheeks going red.

“What is your favourite way of spending time with me?” The moment Laura asks the question, a smirk finds its way onto Carmilla’s face.  
“Well, I quite enjoy the time we spend in bed together,”   
“And just like that, you manage to go from Sweetheart to Horndog. You never cease to amaze me,” Laura scoffs and Carmilla’s smirk only grows.  
“So you agree that I’m amazing?”

Laura raises a brow but her smile betrays her and Carmilla turns to face the camera, “You heard it hear first, folks. Laura Hollis thinks that I’m amazing,”   
“How could I not?” Laura replies without thinking and Carmilla’s smirk drops as she turns back towards the girl, her eyes softening. Carmilla doesn’t reply so after a moment, Laura clears her throat and looks down at the next question.

“How would you describe yourself?”   
“Charming, funny, great ass,” Carmilla lists without hesitation and Laura rolls her eyes.  
“Smart ass, more like,”  
“You can’t tell me you don’t like my ass, also thank you for reminding me to add ‘intelligent’ to the list,”   
“You forgot ‘modest’,” Laura quips and Carmilla winks at her.  
“I was getting there,”

“What’s the craziest dream you’ve ever had? What’s the most recent dream you can remember?”   
“I don’t know about the craziest, but the most recent featured you, me, and some rather interesting positions. I’d be happy to elaborate later,” Carmilla grins and Laura has to fight to stop her mind from wandering.   
“I think I’ll just have to take your word for it on that one,”

“Do you have any birthmarks? If so, where is it?”  
“Not that I’m aware of but if you spot any, let me know,” Carmilla replies and Laura rolls her eyes again.

“Do you fall for a person fast?”   
“No,” Carmilla replies quickly and before Laura can respond Laf laughs from behind the camera.  
“Yes,”

Carmilla glares at them but she has little effect, so she turns back to Laura.  
“I’m going to say ‘maybe’ and we aren’t going to debate it,”   
“Next question, then,” Laura says as Carmilla pouts slightly.

“If we hadn’t met each other, where would you be right now?”   
“Somewhere that I’m glad to have gotten away from,” Carmilla answers, and there is a sadness in her voice. Laura can tell that she’s referring to Ell so she doesn’t linger on the question.  
“I guess it’s a good thing that we met,”   
“I have no doubts about that,” Carmilla says quietly and Laura decides to ask the next question.

“When was the last time you grazed against a sexy someone’s body accidentally?” Laura raises her eyebrows at the question but waits for Carmilla to answer.  
“Well, I’m pretty sure we bumped into each other in the kitchen this morning,”   
“I’ll take the compliment I guess,”

“What if I told you I was bisexual?”  
“Ignoring for the moment the fact that the both of us are the gayest of all the lesbians, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Anyone that has a problem with someone else’s sexuality is an asshole in my books,” Carmilla responds and Laura can’t help but agree with her on that one.

“What would you think if you caught me watching porn? Would you get turned on?”   
“I’d be a little offended you didn’t ask me to join you in the first place, and I guess it would depend on what you were watching,”   
“Good to know,” Laura comments and moves onto the next question, though genuinely beginning to wonder who chose these questions.

“Of all the things you do to me sexually, what do you think turns me on the most?” Laura sighs after asking the question.  
“The way I bite your lip when I kiss you, and when I let you top,” Carmilla says with a sly grin and Laura’s face scrunches up in frustration because not only is Carmilla being true to her word by not lying, she’s also not wrong.

“Oh, Jesus Christ. Who picked these? Right now, what would you like, mind-blowing sex or a cuddle in a hammock to watch the stars?”  
“Oh, God. How am I supposed to pick there? Mind-blowing sex with you should be my first choice, but you know how I feel about stars. You’ve seen my bedroom,” Carmilla looks torn by this decision and Laura leans back as she watches the girl in serious deliberation.  
“You know, if it were anyone else I’d be offended, but with you, I’m not at all surprised. I know you are a giant softie for cuddling,” Laura smirks, taking the opportunity to get back at Carmilla for her teasing.   
“Hey, you know you like the cuddling just as much as I do,” Carmilla defends and sighs before finally making a choice.

“Both,”  
“I’m sorry?” Laura responds and Carmilla sits back in her chair.  
“I’ve made a decision and I choose both options,”   
“I don’t think it works like that,” Laura argues but Carmilla simply raises an eyebrow.  
“That’s my decision, it’s not going to change. I want to have mind-blowing sex with you ride now and then I want to go cuddling under the stars,”

Laura sighs, realising that Carmilla must be milking it for the shippers after all.

“If we were at a nude beach together, would you get naked and flash at someone, or would you want me to get completely naked?”   
“I’d much rather see you naked, though once again I wouldn’t be opposed to the both of us being naked,” Carmilla replies but Laura decides not to fuel the fire on that one any further.

“If I called you a horny pervert, how would you confront my accusation?” Laura smiles a little at this question.  
“I wouldn’t,” Carmilla responds with a shrug and Laura frowns.  
“Really? You wouldn’t?”   
“That statement is completely accurate, I wouldn’t have a leg to stand on,”   
Laura has to agree with Carmilla on that one so she moves on to the next question.

“If you caught me in a room with an attractive person, and I tell you that nothing’s going on, would you believe me?”  
“Well, considering I’m the most attractive person you are ever in a room with, I would most definitely believe you. As I say this, everyone in the room is realising that I just insulted them as well as everyone else in the office, and Kirsch’s Bro senses are probably tingling,”

Sure enough, a dejected, “Bro” comes from the corner of the room in which Kirsch is residing on his laptop.

“Where was our first kiss and how was it?”  
“Our first kiss was at a party, and it was spectacular but the second and third were even better,” Carmilla responds without a hint of humour and Laura finds herself blushing once again.

“First impression?”  
“If I remember correctly, rather than be annoyed at the fact that you just got shoved in my direction and I had to catch you, I found the vibrant redness that had appeared on your cheeks somewhat endearing. Kind of like right now, actually,” Carmilla recalls and Laura notices a soft smile on Carmilla’s face.

“What would I eat every day if I could?”   
“Besides me?” Carmilla smirks again and Laura groans in exasperation.   
“Back at it again with the dirty jokes,”   
“I’m kidding, you would probably eat cookies every day, which you kind of do already,”   
“You eat most of my cookies before I even get a chance to,” Laura exclaims and Carmilla laughs.   
“Can’t have you keeling over from too much sugar now, can we?”   
“Whatever,” Laura rolls her eyes and notices that there is only one question left.

“Okay, last question. Who is my best friend?”

Carmilla watches Laura for a moment before she answers in a quiet voice.  
“I am,”   
Laura is about to argue but she realises that besides her dad maybe, which doesn’t really count, Carmilla is her best friend. Somehow, she can’t help but feel like that isn’t quite enough.

“That’s um, that’s all of them,” Laura says and Carmilla nods her head.   
“Alright, I guess it’s my turn,”   
“Yeah, I guess so. Ask away,”

 

 


	12. Carmilla's Turn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla's turn to ask the questions, and a little bit of family history.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize profusely, I've been trying to get this chapter out for quite a few days now but it just hasn't happened. I'm visiting my hometown for a few weeks and I've been hella busy lately, and when I haven't been busy I've been tired. I'll try to update again soon, but I honestly don't know when. This chapter is longer to make up for the short one last week, and also because Laura has a lot to say about everything. 
> 
> Sidenote, I've got The Emma on a bit of a hiatus while I'm away so that should be interesting. As always, enjoy.

“Do you remember the first thing we said to one another?”   
“I remember an embarrassing amount of rambling followed by me introducing myself to you,” Laura sighs, blushing at the memory.   
‘It was rather cute actually,” Carmilla grins and Laura dips her head.

“What was your first impression of me? Did you ever dislike me?”  
“The first I ever knew of you was from listening to a Silas podcast you were in, my first thought was, ‘damn, what I wouldn’t give to listen to that voice for the rest of my life’. I don’t think I even made it through the rest of the podcast before I googled you, I had to know more. When I saw you, I knew that it was going to be a very steep descent into the trash heap and by the time I actually met you, I was right at the peak of fangirling. Which is why I was such a mess that night. That being said, I don’t think I have ever, or could ever dislike you. Even if you annoy the hell out of me sometimes,” Laura recalls and the smirk drops from Carmilla’s face.   
“That was, more in depth than I was expecting,” Carmilla says after a moment.

“What do you like best about me?”  
Laura’s first thought isn’t quite as innocent as it could be so she takes a moment to think about her answer.  
“Your capacity for kindness, as much as you try to seem like some disaffected badass, you genuinely care about the people close to you. Mattie, Kirsch, Laf, I’ve only known you guys for a little while now, but I know you do anything for them. That’s what I like best about you,” Laura answers and Carmilla’s jaw tenses, unsure of what to say in response to that.

After a moment, Carmilla clears her throat and asks the next question.   
“What’s the one secret you’ve been too embarrassed to tell me?”  
“Uh, I may have had a tiny crush on you before we even met,” Laura mumbles and Carmilla smirks.   
“The question asked for a secret, Cupcake. I think everyone and their dog knows about your ‘little crush’,”   
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry my secret isn’t secret enough for you,” Laura responds and Carmilla smiles before continuing on to the next question.

“Does it bother you if I look at another person and say he/she is sexy?”

Laura sees the opportunity to tease Carmilla and jumps on it, “Well, that depends. Are you looking in a mirror, or at an actual person?”  
“Oh, well aren’t you cute?” Carmilla says and reaches out to pinch Laura’s cheek lightly. Laura immediately leans away from the hand with an annoyed pout on her face. Carmilla chuckles at the girl before glancing down for the next question.

“If there’s one thing you’d want to change about me, what is it?”  
“I’d want you to have a little more faith in yourself, I’m not sure what exactly it is that made you that way but you seem to have it in your head that you are worthless. That couldn’t be further from the truth, and I just wish you could see that,” Laura replies and Carmilla swallows quickly, attempting to clear the blockage that was forming in her throat.   
“They’re really asking the hard-hitting questions, huh?” Carmilla jokes weakly and Laura seems to notice her discomfort.

“How would you describe love?”  
“I guess love is different for everybody, but the way I see it is that you shouldn't search for the perfect person. Quite the opposite actually, nobody is perfect and if you really want to find the one for you then find someone with faults and flaws that compliment your own. I think that love is the ability to understand and acknowledge someone’s flaws, but ultimately not giving a damn. To love someone is to accept them for who they are, all the good things and all the bad,” Laura’s gaze is locked on Carmilla’s and neither one seems to want to look away. Eventually, Carmilla is the one to look away, if only to read the next question.

“The average duration of sex for most couples is around ten minutes. How long do you think we last?”  
“Well, we’ve already had the discussion about you and your terrible stamina, so I think we can leave that one up to the viewer’s interpretation,” Laura smirks, and the tension in the room from earlier evaporates as the topic turns more playful.   
“Oh, is that so? If I recall correctly, you are the one that fell asleep in the middle of a make out session. I don't think you can talk to me about terrible stamina there, Sweetheart,”   
“You know how much we had to drink that night, I can’t be held accountable for the sleeping habits of Drunk Laura,” Laura argues and Carmilla’s smile fades at the reminder of just how intoxicated Laura had been.   
“Right, anyway. Next question,”

“Tell me a sexual fantasy you like, one you haven’t told me yet,”   
“Uh, well I’m sure you've probably picked up it by now, but I like to be in control. Complete and total control over a person, their pleasure and their pain, I think I’d quite enjoy that,” Laura’s voice takes on a sultry tone and Carmilla feels her mouth go dry at the thought of Laura topping her, and surrendering completely to the girl beside her.

“Do you think you can read my mind, what am I thinking right now?” Carmilla manages to get out after clearing her throat, though her voice is a little off what it usually is.  
“Right now, you are thinking about that fantasy I just told you about. You are thinking about me topping you, and I’d be lying if said I wasn’t thinking about that too,” Laura replies confidently, enjoying the way that Carmilla is squirming under her gaze.

Carmilla is working hard to maintain her composure at the same time as she is wondering how the video took this turn. She’s finding both of these things rather difficult when the urge to turn off the camera, kick the crew out, and take Laura then and there on the couch is so very prominent. Instead, Carmilla clears her throat for what seems like the twentieth time and continues on to the next question.

“Have you ever indulged in PDA with me in front of someone else just to make them jealous?”  
“I don't think so, I mean there was that time I grabbed your hand when your ex was being a raging bad person, but that wasn’t really about making her jealous,” Laura shrugs and Carmilla sees the opportunity to gain a little intel on her current situation with Laura.

“What was it about, then? If not to make her jealous?” Carmilla asks in a seemingly innocent tone and Laura frowns.  
“You were upset, I wanted to make you feel better. I didn't really even give it a second thought, to be honest,”   
“Oh,” Carmilla replies, unsure of what to make of that.

“What’s one manipulative behaviour of mine that pisses you off?” Carmilla asks, rather curious about the answer for this one.   
“I wouldn't say you really have any manipulative behaviours that bother me. You do have a habit of tricking me into agreeing to things because you know how stubborn I am, and you almost always make it seem like whatever we are doing is my idea. I wouldn’t say it pisses me off, but it can get rather frustrating,”   
“I guess I’m just a woman of many talents, huh? Carmilla smirks as Laura quirks an eyebrow in agreement.   
“I haven’t experienced all of your talents as of yet but I suppose I can vouch for that,”

“If you had to give me a funny nickname based on my personality or some part of me, what would it be?”  
“Softy McBroods-A-Lot has a nice ring to it. Maybe Broody McVampire, or Broody Gay Carmilla. Oh, how about Little Spoon Karnstein?” Laura begins to list, giggling at her own jokes.   
“Okay, I think we get it there, Cupcake,” Carmilla cuts her off with a grumble.   
“It’s perfectly okay to like being held at night, Carm,” Laura says with a teasing grin and Carmilla huffs, knowing for a fact that she couldn't argue with her on that.

“Celebs or friends, name one person you would want to sleep with if you were single, other than me, of course? Scout’s Honour, that last bit was part of the question,” Carmilla holds a hand to her heart when she receives a glare at the end of that question.  
“I kinda wanna say Mattie, just to mess with you but I don't think I could look her in the eye if I did. God knows she’s already intimidating enough,” Laura comments and she does a quick glance around to make sure that Mattie hadn’t appeared in the room when she wasn't looking.

“You’re locking in my sister as your final answer?” Carmilla asks, a little more bothered by that answer than she should be considered that Laura was in fact just messing around.   
“When you put it that way, I’m definitely locking in your sister as my final answer. You look so cute when you pout like that,” Laura teases and Carmilla fights to control her facial expressions when she feels the pout on her face deepen.

Laura and Carmilla both sober quickly as the next question is read.  
“Why do you think some couples end up cheating on each other?”  
“I think that there are some truly terrible people in the world, and there are some truly amazing people. Sometimes the right people find each other and fall in love, but a lot of the time the good people aren’t so lucky. I think that some couples cheat because they ultimately aren’t where they are meant to be. Sometimes, it’ll be a long journey to reach the point where you realise that you are better off without that person, but in the end, it’s better that way. I think that cheating is an awful method to get to that pretty okay endgame,” Laura responds and Carmilla nods slightly in understanding, her jaw locked. Laura reaches out to grab her hand and she relaxes, smiling weakly before reading the next question.

“When did you meet the family?” Carmilla reads, thankful that this question has a much lighter tone.   
“Uh, I guess I met Mattie for the first time that day I came in as a guest for the podcast, but I’ve only heard stories about your mother. Quite frankly, I’m a little terrified of her from those stories alone. I haven’t met any other family members though,” Laura genuinely looks a little frightened but she quickly shakes it off.   
“Well, sure you have. You’ve met JP, haven’t you?” Carmilla responds and Laura’s jaw drops a little bit in surprise.

Laura immediately glances from Carmilla to a sheepish JP, waving from behind the camera.   
“JP is your brother?” Laura asks and Carmilla nods.  
“He sure is, I’ve got another one too actually. Will, the knucklehead, managed to get as far away from Silas as possible though. At least for a little while. I believe the most recent development though, is that Mother’s minions have been on the hunt to track Willy Boy down and bring him back to help out at the channel. To her credit, Mother does run a tight ship so I’ll probably be in shit for divulging company secrets,” Carmilla says and Laura looks concerned all over again.   
“And you’re okay with getting in trouble over some silly Q&A question?”

Carmilla simply shrugs before replying, “It won’t make it to the release, JP or Mattie will have this bit taken out during editing. Mother might find out about it, but I like to keep her on her toes. I figure I should have a little fun with small revenges,”   
“Small revenges? What exactly has your mother done in the past to make you talk about her the way you do?” Laura frowns, picking up on the hostile undertones that seem to arise whenever there is talk about the head of the company.   
“A story for another time, Creampuff,” Carmilla brushes it off gently but firmly and Laura sits back to think for a moment.

“So if this is just going to get edited out and isn’t for the viewer’s benefit, that means that you are risking getting in trouble with your mom for my benefit,” Laura states and Carmilla shrugs again.   
“What can I say? JP and Mattie aren’t the only ones in the family that have grown fond of you,”

Laura looks as though she is deep in thought so Carmilla decides to break the silence before it has a chance to build, “Shall we move on to the next question?”   
Laura looks back at Carmilla and nods in response, prompting Carmilla to do just that.

“Who wears the pants in the relationship?”   
“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you in your underwear enough times to say it isn’t you,” Laura says with a small smirk, her mind travelling back to a few of the times in question.   
“Stay focused there, horndog. We don’t want you drooling everywhere,” Carmilla clicks her fingers in the space between them with a chuckle. Laura flushes because apparently, she hadn’t been quite so subtle with her briefly wandering thoughts.   
“Next question,”   
“Your wish is my command,” Carmilla offers already looking down at her paper.  
“If only,” Laura mutters under her breath and Carmilla’s head snaps up in surprise.   
“What was that?”   
“Nothing, what’s the next question?”  
  
“What’s one food that I don’t like?”   
“I’m yet to find food you don’t like, you seem to eat anything and everything that’s mine,” Laura states with a raised eyebrow and Carmilla grins at her.  
“Whatever happened to sharing is caring?”   
“Mmhhmm,” Laura hums, only mildly unimpressed.

“What is something I do that you don`t like?”   
“You seem to quite enjoy making me flustered at inopportune times,” Laura replies and Carmilla can’t help but grin.  
“I wasn’t aware I had such an effect on you, Sweetheart,”   
“Hmm, sure you weren’t,” Laura sounds entirely unconvinced which only amuses Carmilla even more.

“Oh no, this is our last question. What a shame,” Carmilla pouts and Laura rolls her eyes before gesturing for her to read the question.  
“What do we argue about the most?” Carmilla reads the question and Laura immediately scoffs.  
“That one’s easy, you are always stealing my yellow pillow,”   
“I do not, it’s not my fault you leave it in my bed all the time,” Carmilla defends herself and Laura looks offended.   
“Oh really? Well, I know for a fact that I had it on my bed this morning. If I walk into your room when we get home, am I going to find it there?”

Carmilla lifts a finger in her defence but pauses, a guilty look crossing her face.  
“See, there’s a funny story there that I will be happy to talk about in a moment. First though, I would like to propose the idea of joint custody,”   
“It’s my freaking pillow!” Laura exclaims and Carmilla laughs.  
“Well, yeah, with that attitude it is. Come on, just try to be a little more open minded here,”

 

 


	13. Lafpocalypse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla explains to Laura about the Silas Apocalypse, and Kirsch doesn't quite understand what's going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to say that I haven't posted because I'm on holiday, but honestly, the real reason is Pokemon Go. I'm one of the two highest trainers in town, but this game has taken a toll both on my bank account and on my writing habits. I go home in a few days though, so the updates should return to normal. That is if Pokemon Go doesn't take over again. 
> 
> I also added a lot more to this than I originally planned, and I think it is a lot better because of that. So I guess my inability to sit down and write for longer than 10 minutes at a time is actually somewhat of a blessing. Anywho, enjoy.

**#These gay nerds are totally dating**

**#Look at the way they look at each other**

**#Even the other hosts can see it**

**#It’s totally up to you but you two should be together**

**#When are they going to come out and confirm it?**

_‘Are you and Carmilla dating?’_

_‘Is Hollstein real?’_

_‘What’s the best thing about dating Carmilla?’_

  
“Mattie was definitely right, the shippers are going insane with everything that’s happened,” Laura sighs and tosses her phone on the table. At this point, staying silent seems to be the best option. All that has really been happening is reblogging her usual content and attempting to filter her limited responses as much as possible. Carmilla on the other hand seems to be basking in the shipper love, reblogging and adding to posts in just the right way to stir up a storm in the Hollstein tag, as well as adding even more confusion as to what her actual standpoint on this whole situation is when it comes to the two of them.

“You don’t seem particularly pleased about that, is the idea of us being together really so unbearable?” Carmilla asks, her voice a little too soft to be mocking. If Laura didn’t know any better, she’d say that Carmilla was upset.

“No, of course not, Carm. It’s not like that at all, I just don’t like that we have to pretend just to keep our fans happy. It doesn’t seem right that our relationship is all just playing pretend to get views,” Laura explains, slightly exasperation that she can’t quite figure out why this whole thing really bothers her.   
“When have I ever said I was pretending?” Carmilla asks, turning serious and Laura looks at her, unable to get a read on the girl in this moment.   
“Pretending, acting, whatever you want to call it. My point is, I don’t like that we are encouraging something that isn’t real,”   
“Right, I understand completely,” Carmilla mutters and straightens up in her seat. It’s at that point that Laura realizes how close together they had actually been. Laura is taken back by the sudden halt in conversation so she looks around briefly before deciding to try and get back into their usual comfortable silence, rather than the tense one that was beginning to build.

“Who’s idea was this again?” Laura questions and Carmilla chuckles to herself, apparently returning to herself at the change of topic.   
“It’s Lafpocalypse,”

Laura must look confused because Carmilla smiles and continues,”In order to make sure that we all don’t cause too much trouble for the network, we each get one day a year to do whatever video we want. This was decided a few years ago and marked the beginning of the Silas Apocalypse. It’s Laf’s day today, and apparently, they wanted to torture the four of us this year.”

“Oh, that’s um, that’s actually a really good idea. What’d you do for your day?” Laura asks and Carmilla looks at her.  
“I haven’t had my day yet, actually. Kirsch has his next week, and mine will be the following week. I’m not sure what possessed Mattie to schedule the three of us in the same month. JP, Perry, and Danny have theirs in a few months, though. She made sure to split us up to some extent,”

“Do you think I’ll get a day?” Laura chews on her lip in thought.  
“I think if you asked nicely, Mattie’d give you a whole week. She’s got a soft spot for you,” Carmilla smiles and Laura returns it. The thought crosses her mind that Mattie might not be the only one with a soft spot for her. Before she can process that maybe she shouldn’t vocalize those thoughts, her mouth is already moving.  
“You know, I’ve heard from a few, somewhat, reliable sources that Mattie might not be the only one with a soft spot for me,”

Carmilla’s smile drops the same time her mouth falls open and she looks like a deer caught in the headlights. A few seconds later, Carmilla shakes it off before smirking.   
“Well, we all know that Kirsch is a softie,”   
“Sure, of course I was talking about Kirsch,” Laura rolls her eyes and sound utterly unconvinced.

“Right, so if we are just waiting for Kirsch and Jeep to film theirs, why is the camera filming?” Laura points to where a bored Mel is sitting in a chair behind the camera, scrolling through her phone.   
“I guess they just film to keep it interesting, the footage rarely makes it in though,” Carmilla replies, glancing up at the camera and giving it a wink just in case. Carmilla’s phone vibrates on the table in front of them and Carmilla lights up as she reads the message. Without a word, Carmilla is out of her seat and running out of the room. Laura is stunned for a moment but she quickly shakes it off and chases after Carmilla.

Laura runs into the filming room to find a sight that stops her in her tracks. Lafontaine is on the floor laughing, Kirsch is dry heaving and holding his throat, JP is sympathetically rubbing Kirsch’s back, and Carmilla is giggling and filming the entire ordeal on her phone.

“What the hell is going on?” Laura asks, after standing for a moment observing the scene.   
“Kirsch misunderstood the idea of the game, and instead of sipping the alcohol he drank the entire shot,” JP explains and Laura shakes her head in confusion.   
“It’s one shot, how did it turn into this?”   
“It would seem that that one shot was Hot Jalapeno Vodka,” JP continues and Kirsch breaks into another coughing fit.   
“Oh no, poor guy,” Laura says, immediately feeling sympathetic while also trying to ignore the continued laughter from both Laf and Carmilla.

After a moment, Theo walks up and hands Kirsch a bottle of water, apparently having temporarily abandoned the camera to go and retrieve one. Kirsch gratefully accepts and drinks half the bottle before finally letting out a breath and slumping pitifully in his chair.

“I guess we don’t get a point for that one, huh?” Kirsch croaks and Laf finally manages to get to their feet, wiping tears from their eyes.  
“Honestly, I’m thinking about just giving you a pity point for that one,”

“Alright, time to go,” Laura announces, trying to wrangle the Wild Carmilla that had burst into the room earlier.   
“Come on, cupcake. Can’t we stay and watch the puppy struggle for a little longer?” Carmilla pleads, giving the girl puppy dog eyes.   
“Won’t that be cheating if we watch them do their shots?” Laura asks, already caving under Carmilla’s gaze.

“Actually, you guys have different shots. I figured it would have a little more variety that way,” Laf pipes up and Carmilla turns back to Laura with a fresh wave of pleading.

“Alright, fine, but you have to go tell Mel that she can stop filming in there,” Laura caves completely and Carmila beams at her victory, already sauntering off in the direction of the other room. It wouldn't surprise Laura at all if the real motivation there was to show Mel the video that she had just taken of Kirsch. Carmilla returns a few minutes later with Mel in tow, who seems to be rather amused all of a sudden.

“Alright, Big Guy, ready to give it another go?” Laf asks and Kirsch has a pained look on his face but nods anyway.   
“Atta boy,” Laf says and pats him on the shoulder before gesturing for Kirsch and JP to try their next shot. Both men pick up their glass, Kirsch being extremely careful to sip the liquid, and JP taking a healthy amount.

“It’s definitely peanut butter based,” JP comments and Kirsch hums in agreement before taking another hesitant sip.   
“Oh, I know what else it is. It reminds me of my lunches I used to have when I was in school, it’s totally PB&J. Right, Ginger Bro?”   
“Are you locking in PB&J as your answer?” Laf asks, and JP nods his head.   
“That is correct. It’s Van Gogh PB&J Vodka. Nice job, pup,” Laf replies and Kirsch pumps a fist in excitement before reaching out to high-five JP.

“Onwards,” Laf waves a hand and the boys both reach for their next shot.

“It’s salty,” JP says in surprise and Kirsch slaps his hand on the table.  
“Dude, it’s totally Caramel Popcorn,”   
“I can taste the caramel, but I don’t think it’s Caramel Popcorn. There’s something we are missing,” JP argues and drinks the rest of his shot, hoping to figure out the flavour. Kirsch looks like he wants to do the same but thinks better of it and takes another small sip.   
“It’s salty and caramelly, but it’s not Caramel Popcorn,”

Carmilla watches from the side and judges him, “I’m not even drinking it but I can tell what it is. It’s salty and caramelly, you’d think that one would be a given.”   
“Oh shush, you’ll get your turn eventually,” Laura nudges Carmilla lightly and the other girl sighs in compliance.

“Is it Salted Caramel?” JP asks and Laf sighs in relief.  
“Ding ding ding, we have a winner. Stoli Salted Karamel,”

“They got there in the end,” Carmilla smirks and Laura raises her eyebrow, effectively silencing her once again. Unaware of Carmilla’s quiet mockery, the boys celebrate another point.

“Two for two, let’s go for a third,” Laf says and Kirsch and JP repeat the process. This time apparently warrants a much more enthusiastic response.   
“Maple,”  
“Bacon,”   
The responses come at the same time and they both look first at each other and then at Laf.

“Maple Bacon?” JP and Kirsch ask in unison.   
“Mama Walker’s Maple Bacon,” Laf replies looking rather impressed while Carmilla is thoroughly amused and Laura is simply amazed.

“Oh no, they’ve morphed brains. It’ll be Danny and Perry next, God help us then,” Carmilla gasps in mock terror and Laura rolls her eyes.

“Almost done, guys,” Laf announces and Laura is pretty sure she’s never seen Kirsch look so relieved.

“Alright, I totally know what this one is,” Kirsch states confidently, and JP looks to him for his answer.   
“It’s smores, Bro. They’re one of my like, top five favourite foods. Right below pizza and Pilsner,”   
“Oh, well I can’t say I’ve had too many in my lifetime, so I suppose I’ll have to take your word for it,” JP responds and Kirsch looks to Laf.  
“Smores, is it smores? I think it’s smores,”

Laura’s gaze effectively stops Carmilla from pointing out the fact that Pilsner is not food and she smiles smugly when she succeeds in keeping Carmilla from crushing the poor boy’s dreams.

“Oh, no go, Bro. It is not Smores,” Laf winces and Kirsch groans in exasperation.   
“What was it?” JP asks and Kirsch drops his head to the table.   
“Kirsch actually wasn’t far off. It was Fluffed Marshmallow Vodka,”   
“An honest mistake, my friend,” JP pats Kirsch lightly on the back in an attempt to console him.

“Alrighty, boys, the score is currently 4. Are we ready to see if we can make it 5?”   
“Sure, why not?” JP replies and they both prepare themselves for the final shot.

“Is that cake?” Kirsch asks, genuinely excited about this one.   
“I think it might be,” JP agrees as they both take another sip.   
“I’ve got a good feeling about this one,” Kirsch says and JP sighs.   
“At the risk of sounding like a fool, what have we got to lose? Lock in cake, Laf,”

“Ooh, so close there, guys. Unfortunately, it is actually Strawberry Shortcake Vodka. I don’t think cake is quite specific enough,”

JP and Kirsch both slump down in defeat and Laf turns to address the camera this time.  
“With that, we conclude Part 1 of Lafpocalypse. Now it’s time to give Hollstein a shot and see if they can beat the boys’ final score of 4. Stay tuned folks, this is sure to be interesting,”

 

 


	14. Potent Concoctions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of Lafpocalypse, and a little bit of Kirshpocalypse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure I had something important to say here, but i really have no idea anymore. 
> 
> Sidenote, The Emma still has like four chapters to catch up on, so enjoy them while she can't. It can be payback for the two bite marks I sustained from her.

“I can’t help but feel like this is a terrible idea,” Laura comments as she looks down at the shots in front of her.  
“That’s probably because it is a terrible idea,” Carmilla replies with certainty.   
“So, why are we going along with this?” Laura asks and Carmilla smiles.  
“Because Perrypocalypse is worth going through Hell for,”

“I’m not going to get any further clarification on that one, am I?” Laura sighs and Carmilla shakes her head.  
“It’s better if you experience it for yourself,”

“Alright, kids. Are we ready for Part 2 of Lafpocalypse?” Laf asks, a devilish grin on their face.   
“As ready as we’ll ever be,” Carmilla drawls and Laf rubs their hands together.  
“Then let’s begin,”

Carmilla and Laura share a glance before tapping their shot glasses together and taking a sip.   
“Holy Mother of Fuck, what is that?” Carmilla winces and pushes the glass away from her.   
“That’s like liquid sadness,” Laura grimaces and sticks her tongue out to try and get rid of the taste.

“No one wants to a guess?” Laf prompts and both girls raise an eyebrow at them.   
“Okay, moving on then. That one was Naked Jay Big Dill,”

“Oh, fuck off, Laf. You just put that one in so that you could have a dick joke in the video,” Carmilla accuses and Laf grins.  
“That is 100% accurate,”

Laura and Carmilla both groan and decide to move onto the next shot unprovoked.   
“Oh, that’s actually better than I was expecting,” Laura says and Carmilla hums in agreement.   
“It’s not vodka, but I definitely wouldn’t say no to more of that,”  
Carmilla goes in for another taste and Laura does the same.

“It’s really chocolatey,” Laura muses and Carmilla taps her hand on the table.  
“That burn is way too familiar for me to get this wrong. Is it Chocolate Whiskey?”

“I’m impressed, you guys got that really quick,” Laf responds and Laura pumps both fists for going in for a high-five. Carmilla only judges her for a moment before rolling her eyes and participating in the high-five.

Laura is actually starting to enjoy herself and she reaches for the next shot eagerly, poking Carmilla lightly in the side to prompt her.

“Jesus, is that fucking popcorn?” Carmilla questions and Laura takes another sip, quite enjoying this particular flavour.   
“Do you not like popcorn or something?”

Carmilla raises her eyebrow and Laura immediately puts her glass down with a gasp.   
“You don’t like popcorn?! Do you not like happiness either?”   
“You’re acting like I just told you I like kicking puppies as a hobby,” Carmilla scoffs and Laura is apparently not amused.   
“Popcorn is amazing, Carm. How could you not like it?”   
“I just don’t like it, I guess. I tried it once and I wasn’t overly impressed,” Carmilla shrugs and Laura turns her entire body to engage in this conversation.

“You can’t only have popcorn once and then condemn it entirely, you probably just had a bad batch,” Laura insists and while Carmilla still isn’t convinced, Laura’s eyes light up in excitement.   
“I know, I’ll make you try all of the different types until you find one you like,”   
“I’ll pass,” Carmilla states and Laura pouts.   
“Oh come on, Carm. It’ll be fun,”

“Uh, guys. You know we are in the middle of filming, right?” Laf asks, and Laura waves a hand at them.  
“It’s Buttered Popcorn, just give me a minute,”

Laura misses the stunned look on Laf’s face at the sudden bluntness of the answer.

“Please, Carm?” Laura begs and Carmilla caves.   
“Alright, fine,”

Behind them, Laf makes an exaggerated whipping motion and sound and Carmilla flips them the finger before looking over to the door.   
“Is that Perry?”   
“Where?” Laf asks quickly, already searching for the woman in question and glares back at the smirking Carmilla after the realisation sinks in.

“Moving on,” Laf mutter, watching as Carmilla and Laura sip their next shot.

“I’m thinking Donut on that one,” Carmilla comments and Laura nods.  
“Yeah, definitely Glazed Donuts,”

“Mama Walker’s Glazed Donut. Alright, this is just getting weird now. How are you two so good at this?” Laf asks and the girls shrug.

“Shot Number 4 then,” Laf sighs, quickly losing excitement over the activity given how easily the shots were being guessed.

“Blueberry?” Carmilla suggests and Laura nods her head.  
“Blueberry Pancake,”   
“No, you’re right. I can taste the pancake now,” Carmilla agrees and they both look to Laf for confirmation.   
“Oh, come on guys. This isn’t even fun anymore. Yes, it’s Mama Walker’s Blueberry Pancake if we must be specific,” Laf whines, as the girls simply smirk at them.

“I don’t know about you, but I’ve gotta meet this ‘Mama Walker’. I’m thoroughly enjoying this,” Laura comments and Carmilla hums in agreement.

“I might as well just give you the point for this last one, but why not go for a spin?” Laf grumbles and Laura taps her glass with Carmilla’s once again.

“Cookie dough, lock in it,” Laura states and Carmilla raises a brow at her in amusement.  
“You aren’t even going to consult with me this time? Ouch,”   
“Are you really going to doubt me on this?” Laura asks and Carmilla raises her hands in surrender.   
“Absolutely not,”

“Fine, you win,” Laf exclaims, tossing the cards they are holding in the air before walking off camera to go back to the other room.

~

“Due to extremely unfavourable events, the winners today, by a landslide, are Carmilla and Laura. Their score of five dominated against the boys’ score of three,” Laf announces with less enthusiasm than usual.

“Haha, suck on that, Giant people!” Laura shouts in excitement and begins doing a victory dance in her seat while everyone else gapes at her.   
“Okay, Cupcake. Let's tone it down a little bit, I feel like maybe there was a little more sugar in those shots than we thought,”

“Oh come on, Carm. We won, why aren’t you excited?” Laura asks, still bouncing in her seat a little bit.  
“Oh, I am. It’s just that I’m usually the one with the insults and you are the one that has to reign me in so I don’t make anyone cry. Seeing the situation reversed kind of threw me a little, and to be quite honest I’m not sure what to do from here,” Carmilla replies, eyeing the girl cautiously.

“Right, anyway. The punishment for the losers today is drinking an entire shot of the winners’ making,” Laf looks rather concerned but continues on. At this point, Carmilla isn’t far off in her assumption that Kirsch would be crying by the end of the video. The look of absolute defeat, and quite possibly some fear at the thought of having to consume another mystery liquid looks to be enough to have the boy teary eyed already.

“Okay, how about we stay away from the death vodka this time? I don’t think Kirschy Boy can handle it,” Carmilla gently persuades as she moves the bottle of Jalapeno Vodka out of Laura’s overly eager hands. The pout that forms on Laura’s face has Carmilla’s resolve crumbling a moment later.   
“Alright, fine. You can put a little bit in,”

“Yes,” Laura yips in happiness and throws her arms around Carmilla’s shoulders and presses a kiss to her cheek before pulling back and taking the bottle from Carmilla’s slack grip. Carmilla barely notices that Laura pours more than a little bit into the glasses, instead attempting to stealthily touch her cheek while at the same time trying to hide the dopey smile on her face.

“You about done there, Martha Stewart?” Laf asks, as Laura finishes carefully mixing the various alcohols into the two drinks.   
“Sure am,” Laura announces, smiling proudly at her concoction of Jalapenos, Pickles, Donuts, and a few other things that Carmilla doesn’t even think recall at the moment.

“Let’s do it,” Laf encourages as JP and Kirsch look down at the shots in front of them. JP doesn’t look bothered in the slightest, while Kirsch looks like the gates of Hell just opened in front of him.

With a shaky hand, Kirsch picks up his glass and takes a breath to calm himself. In one quick motion, Kirsch tips the shot glass up and drinks. He makes it about a third of the contents before he starts dry heaving again and puts the glass back down, pushing it again and shaking his head.

Carmilla and Laf immediately start snickering again, but apparently Laura has begun to feel guilty as she rubs the struggling man’s back.   
“It’s okay, Kirsch. I can take this one,”

Carmilla stops laughing when she sees Laura pick up the glass, sobering quickly at the turn of events.   
“Hold up a minute,” Carmilla tries to cut in but Laura is already starting to toss the alcohol back. Apparently, it wasn’t quite as easy as she thought it was going to be because Laura quickly puts the glass down again.

“Wow, that is actually horrible,” Laura coughs, her nose wrinkling at the taste.

Despite two attempts, about a third of the glass is still full and Carmilla sighs before she picks the glass up. Everyone watches Carmilla with varied expressions as she drinks the rest of the contents.

Carmilla slams the empty glass down and coughs a few times as her eyes water, “That shit is potent,”

“I quite liked it,” JP comments and everyone turns to face him with looks of horror as they see him sitting contently with his glass empty in front of him.

“Well, that about wraps up Lafpocalyse, be sure to tune in again next year to see what the network lets me get away with,” Laf winks at the camera, signing off.   
~

“A camping trip? Kirschpocalyse is a camping trip?” Laura asks in amazement.   
“Yep,” Carmilla sighs.   
“A four-day camping trip?”   
“Mmhm,”   
“That we are filming?”   
“It would appear so,” Carmilla replies as they the pair watch an ecstatic Kirsch explain his plan.

“You have to admit, he was clever to choose Monday as his day. That way we can all finish work tomorrow morning and have Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off for the trip,” Laura comments and Carmilla hums.   
“Yes, I suppose Iron Giant does have something rattling around up there,”

~

“Selfie time, Carm,” Laura announces after jumping in the car and buckling her seat belt.   
“Oh, yay,” Carmilla drawls, her tone dripping with sarcasm but Laura’s resulting pout has her pushing her sunglasses up into her hair and making a face as Laura leans in a snaps some pictures.

“You know, we are going to be taking a lot of photos on this trip. You should probably get used to it sooner rather than later,” Laura says and makes a few more faces before pressing her lips to Carmilla’s cheek for the final photo.

Laura would be lying if she said you didn’t feel bad about somewhat neglecting her followers lately, so she doesn’t think too far into it as she uploads the last photo onto Tumblr.

_Roadtripping with the Grumpy One, I’ll keep you posted._

**#Roadtrip Selfies #Look how pretty she is when she blushes**

“Are you lovebirds ready to go or what?” Laf calls from their car window and Carmilla glares while Laura just rolls her eyes.

“We’ve been ready to go for like a half hour now, Perry is the one that insisted we all needed to take sandwiches for the road,”

“Laura Hollis, you will be thanking me when you are hungry in the middle of nowhere,” Perry scolds and Carmilla snickers before Laura glares at her.   
“What? I didn’t say a thing,”

“Come on, guys, we are burning daylight,” Kirsch calls from his truck, Danny smiling at his enthusiasm from the passenger seat. Everyone else weighs in from their various places in the cars, Carmilla and Laura having lucked out by being able to ride on their own. Or at least, Laura thought it was just luck, the fact that Carmilla had threatened anyone that had wanted to travel with them with some particularly violent things wasn’t important.

 


	15. Waterbased Warfare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kirschpocalypse is in full swing, and things get wet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I straight up starting writing this chapter just so I could talk to you guys all at once because I have a few questions. First of all, have you guys just been sitting in your shipper caves, collecting evidence waiting to pounce on me over Emma? Do we have a ship name? I'd be a little disappointed in you guys if we didn't. I don't blame you at this point, I know how bad this all looks. I know how big of a hole I've dug myself, I wouldn't believe a word I said either. 
> 
> I'd also like to add that The Emma is loving all of the shit you guys are giving me, and that the bite marks on my arm still haven't healed. 
> 
> Out of Context Quotes of the Week: 'We can share it? I'm happy to take turns,' and, 'Em's the top and I'm the bottom,'

“Come on. I did good, right?” Kirsch prompts, his arms wide open as the group look out at the campsite.   
“Yeah, you did good, Beefcake,” Carmilla responds as she leans against his truck, blatantly staring at Laura as she wanders around the campsite in excitement.

“Do you wanna stop checking out Little Nerd long enough to help me unload this stuff, Broody Bro?” Kirsch asks and it’s at that point that Carmilla realizes that Kirsch is suddenly at the back of the truck with an armful of camping equipment.   
“How did you get over there so quickly?” Carmilla asks, genuinely confused.   
“I didn’t you’ve been staring for ten minutes,” Kirsch replies with a shrug and passes with another armload.

“I was not,” Carmilla grumbles, trying to ignore the fact that she did recall watching Laura walk up and down a large portion of the lakefront.   
“Sure, now do you wanna help me or not?”

Carmilla rolls her eyes but pushes off the truck and heads around to help out.

~

“You only brought five tents?” Laura asks and watches as Kirsch rubs the back of his neck.   
“Well, yeah,”   
“There are ten of us here,” Laura adds, hoping to make him understand why this is a problem.   
“The Ranger Bros in charge of the campsite only allow a maximum of five tents,” Kirsch continues and Laura sighs.  
“So where are we all going to sleep?”

“Oh, don’t sweat it. I’ve already got it all planned out,” Kirsch waves his hand and begins pointing to the different tents set up.   
“D-Bear and me are in one, Science Bro and Perry are in one, Mel and Boss-Miss Belmonde are in one, and Theo and Jeep are in one,”

“What about us?” Laura asks, pointing between herself and Carmilla. More than a few people groan in exasperation at the question and Mattie definitely rolls her eyes.   
“You and Angel Pants are together,”   
“What? No, we’re not together,” Laura begins to splutter and Carmilla remains silent before Mattie cuts her off with a wave of her hand.  
“In the tent, you’re together in the tent. Don’t blow a circuit,”   
“Oh, right. Of course, you meant the tent,”

“Anyway, since you’ve decided to highjack us all for the weekend, what’s first on the agenda?” Mattie asks, turning her attention to Kirsch.

“Oh, I actually have some totally awesome stuff planned,” Kirsch replies, initially worried but quickly bouncing back.   
“Do tell,”

~

“Well, I guess this explains why Kirsch insisted on bringing all of these buckets,” Laura comments, looking down at the dozen buckets containing hundreds of water balloons.   
“And why he specified that the tech geeks bring in the waterproof equipment,” Carmilla adds, tapping one of the buckets lightly with her foot.

“I’m not sure about this, Kirsch. It seems awfully bad for the environment to just leave bits and pieces lying around when we’re done,” Perry protests and Kirsch turns about after placing another bucket down.  
“Oh, no, I totally already thought about that. I got biodegradable balloons, I even checked with the Ranger dudes to make sure it was okay,”   
“Oh, well I suppose that’s alright then,” Perry sighs and Laura frowns as she realizes that Carmilla is no longer at her side.

“I’m glad you’re finally using that noodle of yours, Brotein Shake, but don’t you think that the water guns might be a little bit of overkill?” Mel asks dryly, checking once again that the camera she was holding was, in fact, water proof.   
“I’m okay with it,” Carmilla states, having proclaimed a water gun the length of her arm. Laura shakes her head after realizing that Carmilla had apparently snuck off to get a head start on the competition.

“Alrighty, if everyone’s ready we can sort out the teams,” Kirsch starts and Carmilla pokes him in the shoulder with the nozzle of the gun to get his attention.   
“I dibs the cupcake,”   
“No can do, Broody Bro. I wanted to make it fair so we are picking the names out of a hat,” Kirsch waves a baseball cap that had apparently appeared out of nowhere in the air.

“I’m assuming that you’re picking?” Carmilla asks with a raised brow, very much trying to hide the pout that is itching to form.   
“Sure am,” Kirsch replies with a lopsided grin, apparently oblivious to the fact that Carmilla’s finger had inched closer to the trigger.

“First up, on Team Alpha we have… Curly Bro,” Kirsch announces and Perry sighs before moving over to where Kirsch had gestured.   
“Next, on Team Commando, we have...Little Nerd,”

Laura lets out a squeak of excitement, memories of summers spent having water fights well and truly psyching her up.

“Alpha, D-Bear,” Kirsch continues and Danny moves to stand next to Perry.   
“Commando, J-Man,” JP looks somewhat confused at the nickname but moves into place anyway.

“Alpha, Miss Belmonde,” Kirsch is apparently rather careful not to irritate Mattie, making it all the more amusing for her when she glares at him on the way past.  
“Commando, oh hey, it’s me,” Kirsch smiles and walks over to stand next to his teammates, high-fiving Laura and reaching in for the next name.

“T-Bone, Alpha,” Theo shrugs his shoulders and shifts the camera to his other hand as he walks.   
“Mel Bell, Commando,” Mel rolls her eyes at the nickname but moves when called.

Carmilla and Laf are left as the final two and takes that little bit longer to pull the next name in order to annoy his two bestfriends.

“Sometime today would be nice, Baywatch,” Carmilla comments, glancing judgingly at the bright red boardshorts that Kirsch is wearing.

“Final pick, in Team Alpha is… Broody Bro. Which means LafBro is on my team,”

Carmilla groans in annoyance, partially because she isn’t on the same team as Laura while another part is pleased that she had Perry on her team. If there was anyone she needed to be wary on in combat based games, it was Perry.

Once the teams are selected, Kirsch hands out shoulder pouches to carry water balloons as well as a few more very big water guns.

“The only rule is that we don’t stop until the ammo runs out, or someone surrenders. Play hard, Bros, the winner gets free drinks next weekend,” Kirsch announces and if everyone wasn’t motivated to dominate in this game, they sure were now.

“Everyone to the sides. On my mark. 3,2,1, Go time!”

  
Despite the best efforts of Mel and Theo, the next few moments can’t quite be captured on film. The sheer chaos that erupts is really something that needs to be experienced firsthand.

Within seconds, the two teams scatter and begin with their methods of flinging projectiles at their opponents. Some run towards the lake, others send a stream of water and hail of balloons into the balloons while running to a safer place. Some incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid, remain to pick off the people on the opposing side as they all make their getaway.

The only two that are moving in any semblance of a straight line are Mel and Theo, trying their best to capture everything that is happening on their camera without straying into the firing line.

In the centre of the open space, Perry stands tossing balloon after balloon, hitting target after target. JP is making a valiant attempt at returning fire on Perry, but the few balloons that make it into the air are easily dodged by the woman. Somehow managing to avoid the chaos, Laf has snuck just out of Perry’s line of sight and is lining up the shot on their loaded water gun. As they go to pull the trigger, a stream of water nails them in the face and they turn to seeing Danny laughing with a water gun in hand. The laughter stops immediately when Danny spots Kirsch behind Laf, already lining up to toss a balloon at her. Kirsch is about to release a laugh himself at the look of horror on his girlfriend’s face when he too cops a balloon to the jaw. He shakes off the water and looks over to see that Perry was returning the favour to Danny from only moments ago.

Down by the lake edge, Laura and Mattie are both standing over a bucket, trading shots one for one and attempting to catch the other unaware. They both reach into their bucket at the same time and come up empty-handed, forcing a standstill. Motion next to them draws their attention to where Carmilla has just sent a balloon flying at Mel, and the camera. The balloon pops on impact with the top of the camera and Mel is showered in water.

Laura immediately wants to jump to her unarmed teammate's defense and a moment later, an idea pops into her head. Laura catches Mattie’s gaze and looks pointedly down at her bucket of water before tosses her head in Carmilla direction, a proposition hanging in the air. Mattie contemplates for a split second before she grins and picks up her bucket, already turning to go after her sister. Laura jumps in excitement and scoops up her bucket, breaking out into a run and prompting Mattie to do the same.

Carmilla is about to toss another balloon at Mel, completely unaware that complete and total devastation was fast approaching. The fact that Mel’s scowl changed to a gleeful grin before she moved a few steps closer and braced herself, very much should have been a warning. A second later, Laura and Mattie reach their target and pour the contents of their buckets over Carmilla.

Carmilla turns around completely at peace with the fact that she is about to commit murder when she pushes her wet hair out of her face and opens her eyes to the sight of dripping wet, bikini-clad Laura, mid laugh.

Carmilla is still gawking, open mouthed when Mel swaps out her camera for a bucket of water with JP and takes the opportunity to toss the contents of the bucket at the temporarily distracted girl.

Carmilla snaps out of her daze as the water hits her and her anger boils up anew. As Carmilla moves to destroy Mel, Laura laughs and intercepts, grabbing Carmilla by the hand and pulling her towards the lake. Carmilla follows along grudgingly, tightening her grasp on Laura’s hand as Laura picks up the pace to a full on run.   
As they reach the water and wade out for a few steps, Carmilla tries to slow down their momentum. Laura isn’t having it though, so when she feels Carmilla slow down she double back, runs around Carmilla and uses her years of Krav Maga strength training to scoop the other girl over her shoulder. Laura doesn’t doubt that if she told anyone of the giggling that was coming from Carmilla, the girl in question would deny it without a second thought. Laura simply smiles wide at the sound, locking it into her memory and taking another few steps to take them out as deep as possible before she dives into the water, bringing the broody girl that has so thoroughly captured her attention with her. When the two resurface, Carmilla is spluttering and pushing her hair out of her face again.

“Oh, you are so lucky you’re cute, Cupcake,” Carmilla says and Laura grins, smoothing her own hair down.   
“Oh, would the big bad brood monster eat me if I wasn’t?” Laura asks in a mocking tone and Carmilla’s face changes that the question.

“I mean, if eating you is on the table, I’m open to forgetting about the poor decisions you’ve made in the last five minutes,” Carmilla waggles her eyebrows and Laura rolls her eyes.   
“Keep it in your pants, Brood Monster, there are children about,”

Carmilla looks over to see that Kirsch and Laf have entered the water as well, closely followed by everyone else.

“Perhaps later then?” Carmilla offers and Laura does entertain the thought for a moment.   
“I guess we’ll find out, won’t we? We are sharing a tent after all,” Laura replies, noticing that Kirsch has disappeared beneath the surface. She winks at Carmilla the moment that she sees a suspiciously puppy-shaped shadow moving towards the girl’s legs.

Carmilla shrieks as she is pulled beneath the water and Laura laughs once again.

 

 

 

  



	16. Campfire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang hangout around the campfire, and tensions flare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been two months, oops. 
> 
> For real though, I don't even know what happened. I finished my other story, had some Uni stuff, and some family stuff. 
> 
> I've also been hanging out with Em a lot, which I'm sure you'll all love. I introduced her to my other bestfriend and they really like each other which is great. I can report that I do not currently have any bitemarks, but I can tell you that Em got some new lipstick a while ago and the colour looks great on the both of us, it's just a little hard to get off. 
> 
> Hopefully this chapter will make up for the wait, and just incase it doesn't, I'm gonna give you a couple of extra 'Out of Context Quotes of the Week' to analyse. 
> 
> "We both like stripping,"  
> "It went straight? That's odd for you."  
> "Get inside me,"  
> "Mount me in the bathroom,"  
> "Come now, Daddy," 
> 
> Have fun, you guys are the best.

“I’m curious, did you Google ‘Things to do on a Campout’ or did you just stick a bunch of cliches in a hat, hoping for the best?” Carmilla asks and Laura elbows her in the side as Kirsch tries not to let Carmilla’s criticism dampen his mood. 

“Don’t be like that, Broody Bro. I know you know a bunch of scary stories,” 

“Yeah, see the difference is that you call them ‘Scary Stories’ and I call them ‘Weekends with Mommy Dearest’,” 

 

“Alright, let’s not make too much work for the editing crew, Kitty Cat,” Mattie cuts in and Carmilla rolls her eyes before taking a seat beside Laura on a nearby log. 

 

“Who has a story they want to tell?” Kirsch asks, rubbing his hands together in excitement. He looks around the circle and while everyone else looks content to just sit, Perry raises her hand slowly. 

“I have one,” 

“This better not be the story about Laf trying to make Extreme Brownies again,” Carmilla interrupts and a few people around the campfire release a pained sound as they all remember the story.

 

“What? No, this story is much better, I promise. It’s one that my father used to tell me,” Perry responds and Carmilla settles back down to wait for the story. 

 

“Alright, so this is the story of Shovel Face,” Perry begins and a few snickers break out before Perry silences them with a stern look. 

 

“It starts as all good horror stories do, a deserted road, a broken down car, and two newlyweds. 

  
  


~

 

“Ugh, who knew Perry was such a good story teller? I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight,” Laura shudders and rubs her arms, fighting back the goosebumps that had formed over the course of the story. 

“I’m sure if we tire you out enough you’ll be okay,” Carmilla replies with a shrug, extremely conscious of the hand that Laura had placed on her thigh halfway through Perry’s story. 

“Are you offering?” Laura asks and Carmilla’s eyes widen, her breath catching as Laura’s hand moves subtly up her leg. In the corner of her eye, Carmilla can she Laura biting her lip with a look in her eye that has Carmilla praying for a higher power to give her strength. 

 

“Alright, Bros. It’s time for the next activity, Truth, Dare, Slap or Kiss,”  

Apparently, Carmilla’s saving grace is a little less holy and a lot more enthusiastic. Laura pulls her hand away to pay attention to Kirsch, and Carmilla feels the loss instantly but at the very least she can breathe now without wanting to jump the girl beside her. 

 

“I’m pretty sure every knows how to play, so let’s get started. I totally call dibs on going first though,” Kirsch raise a hand as he speaks but the rest of the group only stare at him in silence, apparently preferring to make the poor boy wait. 

“Fine, I’ll put him out of his misery,” Danny sighs, rolling her eyes but obviously not all that unhappy about it.

 

“Truth, Dare, Slap or Kiss?”

“Are you kidding, D-Bear? Of course I’m gonna choose Kiss, what dude wouldn’t want a smooch his girl?” Kirsch exclaims and he closes his eyes in preparation. 

 

Much to the enjoyment of the group, instead of kissing him, Danny grins and smacks Kirsch across the cheek. The resounding sound echoes around the fire, quickly followed by howls of laughter as a stunned Kirsch falls backward off of his log. 

 

Danny is still laughing as she hears Kirsch groan and immediately climbs over to the other side of the log to press a kiss to his lips.

“I’m sorry, babe. I just couldn’t resist,” 

“It’s fine, D-Bear. I’m sure that slap looked awesome,” 

 

Danny laughs and pulls Kirsch back up to sit on the log again, before settling herself back down.

“Alright, my turn to pick someone. Little Nerd, Truth, Dare, Slap or Kiss?” Kirsch turns to Laura and she deliberates for a moment.

 

“This is probably a terrible idea, but I pick Truth,” Laura braces herself as Kirsch gives her a lopsided grin. 

“Who do you most want to bang out of all the hosts? You can’t choose yourself, and I totally won’t be mad if you don’t choose me,”

 

“Oh, um well,” Laura starts, looking everywhere but at the broody girl beside her. Laura can feel her face scrunching up as she tries to come up with a response and she continued to make small sounds before Laf rolls their eyes.

“Just say Carmilla, Frosh. We all know you want to,” 

 

Laura’s gaze immediately jumps to Carmilla and she sees the tail end of the glare that the girl is aiming at Lafontaine. 

“Alright fine, I pick Carmilla,” Laura mumbles as Laf leans further away from Carmilla with a look of concern on their face. 

 

“Okay, my turn,” Laura announces and places a hand on Carmilla’s arm to keep her from what is likely to be some spectacularly violent things to Laf. 

“Mattie, Truth, Dare, Slap or Kiss?” 

 

“Truth, choose your question wisely, Miss Hollis,” Mattie replies and leans forward in curious anticipation. 

“Right, that’s not at all ominous and terrifying. What’s one thing you’d like to do?” Laura watches Mattie and cautiously awaits a response. 

“Leave,” Mattie answers simply and warrants a laugh from almost everyone.

 

“Bro,” Kirsch states with a pout and Mattie rolls her eyes before trying again.

“Fine, I’d like to watch the sunrise over the lake from that peak up there,”

 

A few noises sound around the campfire as everyone considers the idea, and a few members of the group actively begin planning a hike up to the peak in time for the next sunrise. 

 

“Carmilla, dear. Truth, Dare, Slap or Kiss?” Mattie turns her attention to her sister who straightens up at the sudden attention. 

“I don’t feel like getting slapped, and kissing you is definitely out of the question, Sis. Truth gets boring after awhile, so I guess I go with Dare. Give me something good, will you?”

 

“Kiss Laura,” 

“Come again?” Carmilla responds, making sure that she heard her sister right.

“I dare you to kiss Laura,” Mattie repeats simply and the group become interested once again. 

“I’m really starting to worry about the strange fascination you all seem to have with the two of us kissing,” Carmilla points out before turning to Laura, surprised to find that the girl is all too eager to fulfill the dare. 

 

Carmilla swears her heart is failing her when she feels Laura’s tongue against her own and her hands are itching to pick the girl up and pull her closer. When Laura starts to move closer on her own, Carmilla remembers where she is, the fact that the cameras are still on, and the fact that she’s surrounded by siblings and friends. 

 

Carmilla summons up the last bit of her self-control to break the kiss and pull away from Laura for a moment. Carmilla opens her eyes but she keeps their foreheads together as she speaks. 

“Laura, dare,” 

“Dare?” Laura questions and Carmilla jumps on the opportunity. 

“I dare you to go back to the tent with me so that we can get away from whatever strange torture method is next,” 

 

Laura pulls back and looks around to see that everyone is watching them with bemused looks. 

“Bro,” Kirsch tries to object again but is quickly silenced when almost the entirety of the group fix him with a glare. Seeing no further objection, Carmilla gives them all a two-fingered salute and grabs Laura by the hand, pulling her towards their tent. 

 

“I totally get that you didn’t want to risk getting dared to kiss me again, but we didn’t have to leave. We could have just said no next time,” Laura rambles as Carmilla unzips the tent and holds the door open for her. 

“I’m sorry, what?” Carmilla stops for a moment in confusion but Laura is too far gone in her rant to really participate in the conversation. 

“If it really bothers you that much, I’m sure we can tell everyone and they’d be fine with it. We probably wouldn’t play as many party games or anything, but I’m sure we’d figure out another way to have fun together eventually,” 

 

Carmilla’s mouth falls open and as she thinks of a response, she reaches behind herself to zip the tent closed again. Laura takes Carmilla’s silence as agreement and deflates in on herself, the silly little hopeful part of herself giving up on the notion that maybe she was wrong about this whole thing. 

 

“Cupcake, what are you talking about?” Carmilla finally manages to form words. 

“Every time we’ve kissed has been for some stupid game or another, and I know you regretted what happened after we kissed at the party, so I figured I’d give you an out. We can just tell everyone that kissing me makes you uncomfortable and I’m sure they’ll understand,” Laura explains with a tilt of her head, as though what she is saying is obvious. 

 

“Laura, stop,” Carmilla starts but Laura continues on.

“If you’d rather not talk about it, that’s fine. I get it, I just wanted to let you know that I’m fine with it,” 

 

“Laura,” Carmilla tries again, attempting to pull the yellow pillow that Laura is now clutching in her lap away so that she can get to her hands. 

“Oh God, you probably don’t even want to be in here with me. I’m sure I can talk to someone and get them to swap with me, I wouldn’t expect you to want to change tents. I’m sure Mel wouldn’t mind, but then I’d have to share with Mattie, and then I’d have to worry about talking in my sleep or something and saying something unprofessional when my boss can see me,” Laura starts off on a tangent again and Carmilla pulls back before covering her face with her hands and then pushing them through her hair in that way that Laura can’t help but be fixated with. 

 

“Oh my God,” Carmilla mutters before giving up on trying to talk to the girl and instead grabbing Laura’s face with both hands and pulling her into a kiss. Laura squeaks in surprise but melts into the kiss and Carmilla is happy to have shut the girl up but she knows that there’s still a lot of talking ahead. With one hand, Carmilla pulls the pillow from Laura’s now slack hands, placing it where it belongs, and bracing her weight with the other as she pushes hard into the kiss in order to lower Laura down. After a little while longer, Carmilla pulls back from the kiss just enough to brush her nose against Laura’s . 

 

“Now, are you going to let me speak, or do I get to keep kissing you until you’re ready to listen?” Carmilla asks, her lips still meeting Laura’s slightly. 

“I really don’t even know how to answer that,” Laura murmurs and Carmilla smiles before pulling back a little more. 

 

“I feel like the most pressing matter here, is the fact that you seem to think I don’t enjoy kissing you. As if my heart doesn’t threaten to give up on me every single time?” 

“It does?” Laura asks, and Carmilla widens her eyes before nodding because, yes, it most definitely does. 

 

“Also, what could I have possibly done that gave you the impression that I regretted what happened that night?” Carmilla asks, her tone turning incredulous as it had when Laura had originally said it. 

“Maybe the part where you said that it ‘wasn’t something we needed to talk about?’” Laura responds and Carmilla sits back in order to defend herself.

“Yeah, after you said that you hoped it had all just been a dream. I thought that was what you wanted, I was trying to give you an out,” 

 

“Okay, so maybe there may have been some miscommunication there, but it’s not my fault you got all broody and iced me out instead of just having a conversation,” Laura points out and Carmilla gapes at her. 

“‘Iced you out’? So it’s my fault because I was trying to give you space after you didn’t even acknowledge what happened?”  

 

“You made it seem like you didn’t even want to acknowledge it,” Laura says and Carmilla huffs.

“You made it seem like it was just a drunken mistake,” 

 

“You’re so frustrating and,” Laura groans and stops as she sits up, prompting Carmilla to dare her to continue.

“Like you aren’t? And what?” 

“Smug,” Laura finishes her sentence and Carmilla smirks.

“Hypocritical,” 

“Superior,” Laura fires back and waves her hands as she searches for another while Carmilla readily supplies another.

“Delusional,” 

“Condescending,” 

“Tightly wound,” 

 

Whether they knew it or not, the two girls had drifted closer together again and were once again face to face.

“Narcissistic Youtube Host,”

“Prissy little blogger,” 

 

Instead of throwing out more words, they both closes the gap again forcefully as Carmilla pushes Laura back down onto the pillow once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be smut in the next chapter, it likely won't be anything particularly bad, but I did promise to give a heads up. I like to keep my word when I can. 
> 
> I didn't want to make the Beginning note any longer, so I'll just let you know here that I don't know when the next chapter will be up. It could be next week or it could be next month, I will promise to update again before the year ends though.


	17. Tent Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura and Carmilla finally come together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is filth. 2000 words of smut, and I'm not sure if I should be proud of myself or disgusted. 
> 
> On another note, The Emma went on a trip out of the state and I haven't seen her in over a week now, it's killing me. We usually don't go longer than three days without seeing each other and we're pathetically attached to one another. I'll hopefully get to see her on Tuesday, and if not, Thursday. I've just got to suffer through a few more days and then we're home free. I give you guys full permission to mock us over this, I don't blame any of you in the slightest. 
> 
> I haven't seen Em all week, so I don't have any 'Out of Context Quotes' for the week but she's taken to calling me 'Babe' and 'Baby' on a fairly frequent basis and I had her legs wrapped around my waist the other day. Make of that what you will, my little heathens. 
> 
> Enjoy the filth, and the speculation of the Bitemarks ship. You guys are the best.

At this point, Laura would be tempted to pinch herself to make sure this isn’t some elaborate dream, but Carmilla nipping at her neck is providing enough pain and a whole lot of pleasure to know for sure. Instead, she just lets herself enjoy it, because holy Hufflepuff, is she enjoying this. 

It takes Carmilla rolling her hips to convince Laura that this is most certainly happening, and if she wants to make the most of it, now would be the time to do it. With that in mind, Laura shifts her weight in order to settle on top of Carmilla, straddling the girl and copying Carmilla’s actions from earlier.

Carmilla’s hands immediately move to hold onto Laura’s hips, guiding them in a rhythm that has them both gasping. Laura leans down to kiss Carmilla again, finding the other girl all to read for her as she supports herself with one hand and pushing the other slowly up beneath Carmilla’s shirt. Carmilla shivers as Laura rakes her nails down Carmilla’s side before toying with the hem for a moment and deciding that she’d much prefer the feel of Carmilla’s skin. Laura sits back on her heels and moves down in order to push Carmilla’s shirt up enough for the girl to lift her body and allow Laura to slide it off. Laura tosses the shirt to the side and ghosts her fingers down Carmilla’s sides, taking note of particularly sensitive spot. Laura reaches the belt loops of Carmilla’s jeans and hooks two fingers in before tugging just enough to lift Carmilla’s hips. 

Carmilla’s groans in frustration when Laura removes her hands from the girl’s body entirely but quickly changes her tune when Laura reaches up to peel her own shirt off. Before Laura can even toss her shirt to the side Carmilla has risen up to kiss and nip at Laura’s newly exposed skin. After a moment, Carmilla’s hands settle on Laura’s ass squeezing firmly and pulling her further into her lap, closing the gap between them. Laura’s hips seem to act on their own accord and roll down, creating a friction that has Carmilla moaning into Laura’s neck. 

Carmilla moves her hands up Laura’s back slowly, as if mapping it out and committing the feel of her skin to memory. Carmilla’s hands finally reach Laura bra and unclasp it, pulling back just enough to slide the straps down Laura’s arms and away from her body. Laura moves her hands with the intention of doing the same thing but before she can, Carmilla bites down on her neck just that little bit harder and Laura moans, digging her nails in and dragging them back down. Laura’s sure she drew blood with that, but Carmilla doesn’t seem to mind. Instead, Carmilla moans louder and moves a hand up to thread it in Laura’s hair, directing Laura’s mouth back down to her own.   
With a growl, Carmilla wraps an arm around Laura’s lower back before turning and throwing Laura back down onto the sleeping bag. Carmilla steadies herself on her heels and as Laura tries to lean up, Carmilla holds a hand out and firmly pushes her back down, smirking at the pout that appears on Laura’s reddened lips. 

“Patience, Cupcake,” Carmilla rasps in a tone far huskier than usual as she unclasps her bra herself. Laura’s half convinced her soul almost leaves her body when she looks at Carmilla’s body exposed in front of her, and she has to fight the urge to reach her hands out in a grabby motion. 

Thankfully, Carmilla decides to move closer, pressing their bodies together as their lips meet again. Laura leans her head back against her pillow when Carmilla breaks the kiss once again in favour of moving her kisses lower down Laura’s chest, flicking her tongue over one nipple and then the other. Carmilla ghosts her mouth down Laura’s stomach, savouring the feel of the hard muscles beneath her lips. Carmilla reaches Laura’s waistband and leans back slightly, allowing space for her hands to unbutton and unzip the girl’s jeans before tucking both hands into the waistband and tugging the jeans down quickly. Carmilla pulls the jeans further down Laura’s legs, maintaining eye contact and running her lips back up Laura’s leg. She pauses briefly to nip at Laura’s inner thigh, earning a shudder from the girl.

Carmilla smirks and Laura only has a split second to wonder what Carmilla plans to do next before the girl in question winks and uses her teeth to pull Laura’s underwear down her legs. Carmilla tosses Laura’s underwear to the side and moves to settle between the girl’s legs, spreading them wider to accommodate herself. Carmilla moves to lift Laura’s legs and rest them gently behind her head, pausing to press a kiss to the same spot she’d bitten earlier. Laura tightens her legs, locking Carmilla in place and limiting Carmilla’s ability to tease her any further. 

Despite having limited space to move, Carmilla smirks again and starts to nip at Laura’s other thigh, earning a mix between a moan and a groan from Laura. As Carmilla works her way closer and closer to where Laura wants her, she breathes out over Laura’s centre, sending shivers through Laura’s bottom. Instead of continuing as Laura assumes she would, Carmilla moves onto the other knee, as if to repeat the process. 

“Carmilla, if you don’t start using your mouth the way I want you to, I swear to-,” Laura tries to keep her voice steady as she threatens Carmilla but her voice cuts out completely when Carmilla finally turns her attention to Laura’s centre with an enthusiasm that all but steals Laura’s breath away. 

“Is that better, Princess?” Carmilla asks, lifting her head up to look at the flushed girl. 

Before Laura can dwell too much on the effect Carmilla’s newest term of endearment has on her, she threads her hands in Carmilla’s hair and pushes the girl’s face back down. Carmilla takes notice of just how the name affected Laura and chuckles against her, stimulating her further, but chooses to please the girl rather than tease her any further. 

As Carmilla continues to explore with her tongue, Laura’s hips become harder to keep still and she becomes increasingly more vocal. Expletives begin to fall from the girl’s tongue, and Carmilla takes it as a highly enjoyable sign to step up her game. Carmilla places a hand down to hold Laura’s hips in place, using her thumb to brush against the girl’s clit. Laura’s hips buck against Carmilla’s hold and she pulls back before moving her other hand up to enter the girl slowly, first with one finger and then a second. Laura becomes louder than ever, moans of Carmilla’s name and curse words filling Carmilla’s ears and driving her on. 

Carmilla keeps up a steady pace with her hands but keeps her eyes fixed on the girl sprawled out in front of her as she gasps. Carmilla can feel Laura starting to tense around her fingers, so she begins to curl her fingers, stroking Laura from the inside as she picks up the pace with her other thumb.   
“Look at me, Princess,”

Laura’s eyes snap open and she makes eye contact with Carmilla moments before her back arches and she throws her head back, screaming Carmilla’s name a final time as she falls over the edge. 

Carmilla grins proudly as she crawls up beside Laura, as she attempts to catch her breath.   
“And you were worried about my stamina, do you need a minute?”   
“Take your pants off,” Laura breathes and Carmilla smirks down at her.  
“Someone’s bossy,”   
Laura shoots her a look and Carmilla bites her lip in an attempt to hide the grin on her face but she does as she’s told and makes quick work of removing her jeans and underwear. 

Laura seems to have caught her breath, and Carmilla waits to see what she has in mind next. Without another word, Laura grabs Carmilla by her hips, and with a surprising amount of strength, she moves the girl under she straddling her stomach. It’s at that moment that Laura realises just how much Carmilla had been enjoying all of this. 

“Someone who is this wet doesn’t have room for mockery,” Laura states and Carmilla smirks, despite the sudden contact.   
“Oh really?”  
“Yes, it’s a well-known fact, that I made up just now,” Laura replies with a smug grin of her own.   
“You just get to make up all the rules now?” 

Carmilla gasps when Laura begins to guide her hips up and down her stomach, both of them relishing at just how wet Carmilla is. Carmilla starts to move her hips on her own, grinding smoothly against Laura’s abs. Laura watches in awe as Carmilla’s eyes fall closed and she bites her lip in pleasure, her movements harder now. 

With Carmilla moving effectively on her own, Laura’s hands begin to wander, taking in the girl getting herself off on her stomach. Laura remembers how much Carmilla had seemed to enjoy it when she’d scratched her earlier and she decides to test these newfound sensations out. One hand moves up to pinch Carmilla’s nipple with just enough force to warrant a moan and her other hand slides down behind her to return the favour and squeeze Carmilla’s ass firmly. Carmilla’s movements pick up again and Laura takes that as an incentive to go just a little further. With smooth motions, Laura stokes the soft skin before pulling back and slapping once. The action throws Carmilla’s rhythm off for just a second but she releases a deep moan and she rolls her head back, increasing the rolling of her hips once again. Laura releases Carmilla’s nipple and uses that hand to keeps her hips moving, while slapping her ass once more, a little harder this time with her other hand. 

“Do you like that, Carmilla?” Laura asks, watching as Carmilla nods her head quickly, stifling another moan and grinding particularly hard. Every now and then, Carmilla lets out a sound that is somewhere between a whine and a purr of contentment. 

Laura moves her hand from Carmilla’s hip to brush her thumb against her clit, adding another level of pleasure to the bucking girl. Carmilla’s motions are starting to become sloppier and Laura can tell that she’s getting close. 

Laura decides that now would be the perfect time to get payback for the prolonged teasing that she had had to suffer through earlier. Without another thought, Laura moves both hands to hold Carmilla’s hips and stops the movement entirely.   
“What? No, no, no,” Carmilla whimpers after her eyes open and she sees the devilish smirk on Laura’s face.   
“What’s the matter, Carmilla? Can’t handle a little teasing?” Laura asks innocently, but the look in her eyes says something entirely different.   
“Fuck, please, Laura,” Carmilla begs and Laura smiles before she guides Carmilla’s movements once more. 

Laura adds more pressure to Carmilla’s clit as she arches her back up to push herself closer to Carmilla and increases her efforts. Carmilla is a writhing and sweaty mess above her, so close to letting go, but something else is missing. 

“Come for me, Kitten,” Laura orders, her voice far huskier than Carmilla had ever heard it and those words are all it takes to have released a high pitched moan, before slumping back down onto Laura after riding out her orgasm. Laura maneuvers the girl to lean against her side instead, her breath hot against Laura’s neck as she catches her breath. 

“I’ve never been so glad that you decided to take up Krav Maga and yoga,” Carmilla murmurs against her skin and turns herself just enough to see where Laura’s stomach is glistening from where Carmilla had been. Laura notices the wetness as well and reaches a hand down to swipe at the wet skin, bringing her hand up and sucking her fingers. She moans as she tastes Carmilla and she feels her arousal growing even more.   
“Mmm, neither have I. What do you say we see just how great your stamina really is?” 

“I have to say, that sounds like a wonderful idea,” Carmilla replies and rolls fully onto her back as Laura rolls over and moves to settle down between her legs. Laura doesn’t waste any time in tasting Carmilla from the source this time and as she slides two fingers into the girl, and listens to the soft moan that sounds,she can’t help but think that it would be a long time before she ever got sick of this.


	18. Nocturnal Affairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura explores the limit of her own embarrassment, and Carmilla searches for bacon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's entirely possible that I shouldn't have started writing this chapter at 1am, but it only took me three hours to write, and I don't have to get up until 10am so I'm sure it's fine. There's like a solid twenty minutes before the sun comes up, this is fine, I can't see light filtering through my curtains or anything. We'll see how much I hate myself in the morning, I'm perfectly fine with letting Em mock me all day if I'm exhausted tomorrow. 
> 
> I don't have anything questionable for the week, just the knowledge that Em and I did some filming with a high quality camera the other day and the guy that was in charge of the camera offered to leave us alone for a bit if we'd like. 
> 
> Also, Its_Me_EJ, not to rush you or anything, by all means take your time, it's totally cool, but how's the story coming? I don't want to seem pushy or anything, but Em and I are so excited it's not even funny. We are so ready for whatever you've got planned for us. 
> 
> Anywho, enjoy, my Little Heathens.

When Laura wakes up, three thoughts cross her mind. She’s naked, there’s a drool patch on her pillow, and there’s a very strong possibility that there is a naked Carmilla next to her. With that last thought in mind, Laura reaches up to wipe the dried drool from her face and turns over in the hopes that Carmilla is still asleep. To her great surprise, a sleepy Carmilla is already facing her with a content smile on her face.

“Damn it, you’re not meant to be awake yet,” Laura exclaims in frustration and Carmilla frowns at her.  
“I’m sorry?” Carmilla’s voice is rough from sleep and it makes Laura like her that little bit more, if that’s even possible.  
“You were meant to still be asleep so that I could have that romantic movie moment where the main character looks over at their love interest to watch them sleep,” Laura pouts and Carmilla smiles before shaking her head.  
“Sorry to ruin your romantic moment, Sweetheart. I’ll try to remain unconscious longer for you next time,”

“Thank you, it really doesn’t seem like that much to ask that someone might want to have a nice romantic moment with her girl-, uh person, friend, acquaintance, um. Oh God,” Laura starts off in an over dramatic tone but quickly devolves into wide-eyed, panic induced squeaking when she notices her verbal slip up.

“Girl-person-friend-acquaintance, huh? Bit of a long title, don’t you think?” Carmilla asks with a smirk and a tilt of her head.  
“Yep, it’s a hell of a title,” Laura mumbles in response and attempts to bury her head in her pillow as her face heats up.  
“I don’t know about you, but I think that ‘girlfriend’ is might be easier to say,” Carmilla muses softly and Laura slowly raises her head up to look at the girl.

“That does sound easier,” Laura responds and Carmilla looks down for a moment before meeting her gaze again.  
“I won’t stop you from calling me whatever you’d like, but I think I might very much like to call you ‘my girlfriend’,”

Laura manages to control her internal screaming long enough to smile at Carmilla, before moving closer and kissing the girl softly.  
“I think I might like hearing you call me that,” Laura murmurs after she pulls back to see a blush has formed on Carmilla’s cheeks. Laura smiles softly before leaning down to kiss her again but pulls back to look at Carmilla for a moment with a frown.  
“Wait a minute, you were already looking at me when I looked over at you. Were you already doing what I was going to do?” Laura questions and Carmilla shakes her head and looks away as she comes up with a cover story.  
“Absolutely not, I was just…checking that someone hadn’t snuck a chainsaw in while I was asleep. I mean with the amount of snoring you were doing, I felt the need to make sure,”

“Rude, I do not snore,” Laura gasps and slaps Carmilla on the arm before a smug smile settles on her face again.  
“You totally were trying to watch me sleep, you big softie,”  
“You can’t prove anything,” Carmilla grumbles and Laura laughs as her broody girlfriend begins to pout.

“Have I ever told you how cute it is when you pout like that?” Laura asks, tapping Carmilla lightly on the bottom lip with her finger.  
“No, but you’re welcome to tell me what else you like about me. I know there’s only so many hours in the day, but I’m willing to get a start on it now,” Carmilla responds with a smirk and Laura shakes her head with a smile, leaning down to kiss Carmilla again.  
~  
By the time Carmilla and Laura finally emerge from the tent, they’re both expecting to see everyone up and moving around the camp, given how late in the morning it was.

“Where is everyone? They can’t still be asleep, right? Perry would have a fit if everyone decided to sleep all day,” Laura says and Carmilla hums in agreement. After walking around for a moment, Laura spots Mattie down by the lake and figures that now is as good a time as any to ask about her own day before Kirsch decided to continue his.

“I think I’m gonna talk to Mattie about getting a day,” Laura says and Carmilla nods her head but she still seems to be looking around for something.  
“While you’re doing that, I’m going to see if I can find the bacon that I know Kirsch would’ve stashed away somewhere,”  
“Make sure you save some for me,” Laura shakes her head as Carmilla starts to head off in search of food before making her way down to the water side.

“Good morning, Mattie,” Laura greets when she walks up beside the woman.  
“You’re looking chipper this morning, some might say you’re glowing,” Mattie replies with a raised brow and Laura tilts her head in confusion.  
“Where’s everyone else? I thought they’d all be up by now,”

“My guess is that they’re all still sleeping, I don’t think many of us really slept too well last night,” Mattie responds and Laura frowns at that information.  
“Were you guys up late filming?”

“Filming? That stopped as soon as you and Angel Pants started with your nocturnal affairs, so to speak. There’s only so much the editing crew can do, so none of us saw the point in trying to film any further,” Mattie scoffs and Laura chokes on her own spit.  
“Oh God, you guys heard us?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the park rangers could probably hear the two of you, though I suppose I should thank you. Everyone was awfully quick to agree to a late night hike to get away from indecent acts going on in your tent, I even got to watch the sunrise like I wanted to,” Mattie muses and Laura finds a rock on the ground nearby to be particularly interesting to look at.

“So, everyone knows then?” Laura asks quietly and only needs to look at the expression on Mattie’s face to know the answer to that.  
“To be quite honest, we were all relieved that the two of you had finally stopped with this ridiculous pining act, and decided to act on the obvious mutual attraction. Suffice it to say, that wore off after the third, ‘Oh God, Laura,”

At this point, Laura’s pretty sure she can’t even breathe, let alone think about looking Mattie in the eye.

“I will say this though, part of me wants to congratulate on a job apparently very well done, and another part of me wants to slap you for doing unspeakable things to my little sister. So I’ll just settle for letting you know that if you do anything to hurt that girl, I promise that I’ll make you understand the true meaning of fear,” Mattie finishes with a dazzling smile and Laura nods her head with wide eyes.

“Would um, would now be a bad time to ask about getting a day of my own?” Laura tries after clearing her throat.  
“Hmm, I’ll admit that I’ve taken quite a liking to you, and I trust that you wouldn’t do anything to cause any trouble for me?”  
“Well, I do have this one idea and I don’t know how much trouble it’d be but there would be definite entertainment on your part?” Laura gestures vaguely with her hands as she searches for words.  
“Very well, you can take one of the days after Carm’s week. I trust you won’t make me regret this, Miss Hollis?” Mattie gives Laura a look and part of her wants to squeak and run away but instead she just smiles weakly and nods her head.  
“I think Carm mentioned something about looking for bacon if you’re interested?”

“Bacon sounds delightful, now let’s go and find my sister. I’ve got plenty of mockery for her as well,” Mattie turns on her heel and starts walking back towards camp.  
“Here I was thinking that I was special,” Laura jokes with a hand over her heart and a wounded tone.  
“Oh you are, Miss Hollis. You’re very special indeed,”

~  
“Well, I guess we can confirm that Laura and Carmilla haven’t done the nasty in the apartment yet. From the sounds you guys were making last night, we definitely would have heard something by now,” Lafontaine states and Laura almost spits out her mouthful of cocoa. Perry scolds Lafontaine, and Carmilla glares at the redhead in question while reaching over to rub Laura’s back gently.

“I can’t believe you and Little Nerd finally got it on last night, we’ve all been trying for ages to get you guys to admit you like each other already. Are you guys like actual girlfriends and everything now?” Kirsch asks and Danny raises her hand up to hit him on the arm but decides against it, likely realising that he hadn’t really said anything that they hadn’t all been thinking anyway.

“You guys are acting like it's been some whole big thing that everyone was in on but us, I mean, maybe there was a little bit of pining but we really weren’t that bad,” Laura starts and everyone turns to give her a look that makes her reconsider just how bad the pining might have actually been.  
“Okay fine, so maybe we were that bad but I’m sure you’ll all be happy to know that we are in fact dating now. That being said, if I see you tweet anything about the two of us before we do, Laf, I’m throwing your phone in the lake and then I’m throwing you in after it,” Laura continues and while everyone lets out sighs of relief and murmurs of ‘finally’, while Laf just looks offended.  
“Okay, rude. First you keep us all up for most of the night, and now this?” Laf comments but they tuck their phone away all the same.

“You know the shippers are all going to lose their shit once they do catch wind of it though,” Carmilla says and Laura smiles at the thought and threads her hand with Carmilla’s.  
“I’m willing to face the masses if you are,”

“And we thought it was bad before they were dating,” Laf starts and receives a few grunts of agreement from the group.  
“They’re sweet enough to give a person cavities,” Mattie adds, watching as Carmilla reaches out to tuck some of Laura’s hair behind her ear.

“It’s kinda weird seeing Wednesday all smiley and lovestruck, I’m starting to worry that she might do something truly devastating and wear colour for once,” Danny comments and Laf nods in agreement.  
“Yeah, I know, right? Are we sure this is even the real Carmilla? Are we sure she's not a pod person or something?”

Carmilla turns to give Danny and Lafontaine a piece of her mind but Laura squeezes her hand to stop her.  
“Ignore them,” Laura says and Carmilla smiles at her.  
“Gladly,”

Without caring about who is watching, Carmilla cups Laura’s face with her hand and presses a kiss to her lips. After a moment, they break apart and lean their forehead against one another, forgetting about the rest of the world for a moment.

A vibration draws Laura’s attention down to her phone, and she’s fully prepared to march over to Lafontaine and initiate a nice invigorating swim for them when she realises that Laf must have heeded her warning for the time being. Instead, Laura unlocks her phone to see that Mattie has texted a picture that she must have only just taken. The picture is of the two of them, hands interlocked and foreheads pressed together, looking just as oblivious to the outside world as they feel. The caption reads, ‘This seemed like the perfect thing to use, should you feel so inclined to feed the masses”.

Laura looks over at Mattie and mouths, ‘thank you,’ before showing Carmilla the text, sending it to her, and changing the background on her phone.

“I’m fine with telling people whenever you are, but I think I’d like to keep you all to myself for just a little bit longer,” Carmilla whispers and Laura smiles back at her.  
“Sounds perfect,” 


	19. Passenger Seat Performances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla and Laura drive back, and things get interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's been awhile. I'm sorry, I've just been all over the place both physically and mentally lately. I'm visiting my hometown for a few weeks, and I'm already two weeks in. If I thought being away from Em for 11 days was bad, oh Buddy, this is much worse. Hopefully next week, she'll be coming up to visit me with another friend of ours, Fraser, a blessing of a boy because he's willing to drive 15 hours both ways just so we're not apart for so long. If not, we won't see eachother for about a month, and it'll be interesting to see if we'll survive that long. 
> 
> On another note though, the fanfic that was promised to us was posted and thoroughly enjoyed a little while ago and I'm keen for the next one. How is that coming, EJ? 
> 
> Anywho, enjoy.

“I’ve got to hand it to Kirsch, I actually had a lot of fun this weekend,” Laura says as she finishes packing her things into the car. 

“Yeah you did,” Carmilla responds with a waggle of her eyebrows and Laura rolls her eyes before swatting lightly at her girlfriend. 

“It was a pretty okay weekend, to be honest, I don’t think anyone is really ready to leave yet and go back to civilisation,” Carmilla amends with a small smile and a raised eyebrow, almost daring Laura to find fault in her words. 

 

“I don’t know, Mel seems pretty excited to get back and start editing the footage. I heard she got a great view of you getting nailed by water the other day,” Laura teases and Carmilla huffs at the memory of being bested by both her sister and her girlfriend in one fell swoop. 

“Yes, well, apparently you had a different idea of getting wet than I did,” 

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m fully capable of doing both. I’m talented like that,” Laura grins and Carmilla tilts her head.

“I can’t argue with you there,” 

 

“Looks like we’re making a move,” Laura nods towards the rest of the gang getting into their respective cars. 

“On the road again,” Carmilla sighs and her eyes widen in horror when Laura perks up and she realises her mistake.

“No, you are not singing that song right now. We are not doing this,” Carmilla points a finger at the girl that looks only slightly disheartened. 

“Can I whistle?” Laura asks hopefully and Carmilla continues to point at the girl with raised eyebrows. 

“Can I hum it?” 

“Okay, you can hum it,” Carmilla sighs and gets in the passenger side as Laura happily begins the hum the irritating tune.

 

“Driving together should be interesting,” Carmilla ponders and Laura looks over at her, her attention having been drawn from waiting for the passing cars to let her in. 

“What do you mean? We’ve driven together tonnes of times,” Laura replies, confusion written across her features. 

“Yeah, but before I couldn’t do this,” Carmilla smirks and pulls Laura in for a kiss. 

 

~

 

The two had been in a peaceful silence for the first hour of the trip, flicking through the radio channels and listening to the variety of different songs that came on until one, in particular, came on and Laura began to hum quietly. 

 

_ I see it in the way you would do _

_ When no one else could ever get through _

 

After a moment, Carmilla recognised the song as well and decided that she wanted to have a little fun with it. She listens to the lyrics before beginning to hum quietly. 

 

_ Holding back till I come around _

_ Time and time again you wait for me to come in _

 

“And did you really look my way?” Carmilla joined in and began singing, much to the surprise of the girl beside her. 

 

“Cause no one could've seen this coming

I would never let you down

If I was running backwards in full time,” Carmilla begins to sing louder, winking at Laura’s apparent surprise. It occurs to her in that moment that Laura had likely never heard her sing before, short of seeing low-quality YouTube videos of drunken endeavours with Laf and Kirsch. 

 

As the song reaches the bridge, Carmilla decides to step it up a little, reaching out to stroke Laura’s face lightly as she sings, “So I can and I will and you’ll see your hero come running, 

over and over tonight,” 

 

Carmilla takes great satisfaction in the smile that Laura can’t keep off her face. Laura’s gaze flickers over to hers for a second before she shakes her head and returns her focus to the road. 

 

“And I do wanna love you

If you see me running back

And I do wanna try,” Carmilla’s voice grows louder as she sings the chorus, taking a second to lean over and kiss Laura on her reddened cheek. 

 

“Because if falling for you girl is crazy

Then I’m going out of my mind

So hold back your tears this time,” Carmilla leans back in her seat as she belts out the rest of the chorus, genuinely enjoying singing like this for the first time in ages. 

 

“Me, I’m used to being tired and bloody

But you believed that I could be somebody

You put your world on hold for me

Gave away to follow failure through the fire,” Carmilla looks at Laura while she sings, feeling a slight sting at just how close to home the lyrics are hitting. 

 

“I need you to know I will

Believe me girl I’m so tired of running

I just wanna hold your hand

Stare at you like you’ve got everything I need,” Carmilla offers her hand out to Laura, who glances down at it for a moment before smiling and lacing their fingers together. 

 

“And I can so I will and you’ll see your hero come running

Over and over tonight

And I do wanna love you

If you see me running back

And I do wanna try

Because if falling for you girl is crazy

Then I’m going out of my mind

So hold back your tears this time,” This time, Carmilla looks out and sees open road, so she takes the risk and taps Laura lightly on the lips, requesting a kiss that Laura quickly provides before pulling back to watch the road. 

 

“And what if I never said to you I was dynamite

And what if I never told you I’m afraid to cry

What if I never let you down

And said I’m sorry for the nights I can’t remember

What if I never said to you I would try,” Carmilla smiles as starts belting out the next line without pulling back. 

 

“Yeah Yeah Yeah,” Carmilla leans back in her seat once again, getting more into this song than she had first anticipated.

 

“And I do wanna love you

(If you see me running back)

And I do wanna try

Because if falling for you girl is crazy

Then I’m going out of my mind

So hold back your tears this time,” Carmilla lowers her voice down, along with the song and leans closer to Laura again, singing sweetly this time. Laura kisses her again, effectively cutting Carmilla of before she can start the final chorus. 

 

“Hold back your tears this time,” Carmilla finishes with a fond smile, that fades when she sees the sudden look of determination on Laura’s face. 

 

“You okay, Cupcake?” Carmilla asks in concern, moments before Laura pulls the car over to the side and leaps at her in a kiss. 

 

“You have got to sing for me more often,” Laura states after breaking the kiss. 

“If this is the reaction I get, I’d happily sing for you for the rest of my life,” 

 

~

 

“Don’t get me wrong, camping was great, but I am glad to be home,” Laura muses after settling into Carmilla’s side on the couch. 

“It definitely beats sitting on an old log while Perry and Kirsch passive-aggressively try to initiate Kumbaya,” 

“Yeah,” Laura trails off for a moment as she thinks back to that particular situation.

“You should probably apologise for threatening to throw the guitar in the lake,” Laura continues and Carmilla wrinkles her nose at the thought. 

“Fine, but only because you asked so nicely,” 

“Whipped,” Laf chimes in as they walk out of the kitchen and towards their room. 

 

“Babe, give me a reason not to kill them?” Carmilla asks and Laura is thoughtful for a moment.

“I can’t fuck you in prison,” Laura replies with a smug and Carmilla nods her thanks. 

 

“What are you up to anyway?” Carmilla questions and Laura tilts her head. 

“You’ve been looking at your home screen for the last five minutes,” Carmilla nods down at  Laura’s phone and the girl in question sighs. 

“I’ve been trying to check the Hollstein tag, every time I go to do it I start thinking about everything that’s happened lately and I chicken out,” 

 

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of your own fans,” Carmilla chuckles and Laura pouts for a moment. 

“Hey, I know what it’s like to be a fangirl. It can get pretty intense in the tags,” 

“What’s the worst that’s going to happen? They gif you to death?” Carmilla asks with an arched brow.

 

“Ugh, fine. Why do I even like you?” Laura whines and Carmilla smiles in victory.

“My charming personality, devilish good looks, and my complete modesty,” 

 

Laura scoffs out a laugh at this and Carmilla pretends to be insulted before she raises a hand and wiggle her fingers, “Mustn’t forget about these as well,” 

“Oh, I don’t think I could forget about those if I tried,” Laura replies in a low voice and leans in closer to Carmilla’s lips. 

 

“If any of that happens on the couch, the two of you will be responsible for getting it cleaned,” Perry points out as she too makes her way to her room. Laura and Carmilla both groan as the moment vanishes.

 

Laura goes back to staring at her home screen for a moment before Carmilla reaches over and takes the phone from her hand. 

“You know, Perry only said we couldn’t get frisky on the couch, last I checked there are two very comfortable beds in the house that belong to us,” 

“I do believe you’re right,” Laura replies in an equally seductive voice. 

 

“If we were to disappear into one of our rooms for some time alone, I really don’t think Perry would complain too much. At the very least, we won’t be out here on her couch,” Carmilla continues to reason, standing up and pulling Laura slowly by the hand.  Laura follows obligingly as Carmilla leads them towards her bedroom. 

 

“Wait, you want to go to your room?” Laura stops for a moment. 

“Well, yeah. My room is closer,” Carmilla shrugs and tries pulling her again. 

“Yeah, it’s also a safety hazard. Every time I go in there, I almost trip and break something,” Laura scoffs and Carmilla actually looks a little offended this time. 

“Maybe if you weren’t so clumsy you’d be fine,” 

“We’d be just as fine if you kept your room clean,” Laura argues and the two stare each other down.

 

“Mine’s more lived in,” Carmilla fires off.

“Mine’s newer,” Laura fires back. 

 

“Mine has character,”

“Mine would probably pass a health inspection,” 

 

As the pair argue, they drift closer to one another, an apparent skill they’d picked up. 

 

“I don’t know why you can’t see that my room is better,” Laura exclaims waving a hand haphazardly towards her door. 

“I don’t know why you can’t see that you’re wrong,” Carmilla replies but she is genuinely a little scared at the fire behind Laura’s eyes. A little scared, but mostly just extremely turned on. 

 

“You sure know how to kill the mood, huh?” Laura asks and Carmilla tilts her head and smiles. 

“Oh, Cupcake. Don’t try and pretend that you’re not just as into this as I am,” 

“I’ve never been more attracted to you in my life, and I’ve seen you naked,” Laura states and Carmilla’s not quite sure whether she should be offended by that or not. 

“Well, you’re welcome to see me naked again. My room is right this way,” 

 

Just like that, the argument is sparked again, but before they have a chance to really get into it, they’re interrupted once again. 

 

“Oh my God, will you two stop with your obnoxious brand of foreplay?! Just go into Carmilla’s room, the walls are thicker and if we’re lucky we might not have to hear as much,” Laf yells from inside their room and Carmilla and Laura tear their gaze away from each other towards Laf’s room. 

 

They look back at one another and shrug, before launching at each other and slamming into Carmilla’s door mid-kiss. Carmilla reaches down and turns the doorknob to let them in, endeavouring to pick Laura up and carry her to the bed to avoid both Laura breaking something, and Laura proving she was right. 

  
  
  
  



	20. Birthday Declarations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang celebrate Carmilla's birthday, Carmilla serenades Laura, and Laura sneaks around like a gremlin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy wow, guys. I'm sorry, it's been so long. I guess there's been quite a lot going on actually. 
> 
> Frase and Em didn't end up coming to visit me in my hometown, but they did pick me up from the airport and take me out to dinner. The reunion between Emma and I was grand, though we were told that, "we can't stand here and hug each other for five solid minutes because it's busy and we can't stay here long." Instead, we just smiled giddily at each other and talked animatedly for the first ten minutes of the car ride. As far as the whole month away, I've been back for about a month and a half and there have somehow only been 6 or 7 days since then that Em and I haven't seen each other in some way, shape or form. I have no idea how I managed to get that to work. 
> 
> Since then, we've mostly just been chilling, eating a lot of food, iceskating on a weekly basis, and just having general fuck arounds. I took her to the Panic! At The Disco concert last month as well. Also, Em dyed her entire hair cotton candy pink yesterday, and let me tell you, I didn't even realise I liked pink until she did that. 
> 
> It's my 19th birthday this Sunday, and I'm gathering a few of my friends together to celebrate so hopefully some fun shenanigans ensue. 
> 
> I think that pretty much wraps everything up in terms of getting up to speed with what's going on, so without further rambling, enjoy the chapter.

Carmilla’s aware of two things, the first being that the doorbell just rang, the second being that the previous peace within the apartment was shattered in an utterly confusing storm of flailing limbs and almost-cuss words. The cause of such a truly spectacular disturbance being her girlfriend barreling out of her bedroom, across the room, and slamming bodily into the door that she had been about to open.

 “I got it, I got it. Don’t touch the door,” Laura had yelled during the course of her journey, and once she was sure that she’d gotten her message across, she quickly pecked Carmilla on the cheek and pushed her back in the direction of her room.

“Cupcake, I’m not even sure how to express the level of confusion I’m feeling right now,” Carmilla sighs but decides to follow both Laura’s instructions, and her own survival instincts.

 Once Laura hears the sound of Carmilla’s bedroom door clicking shut, she turns and flings open the front door to find a terrified teenager clutching a small delivery box in his hands.

 

“Delivery for Laura Hollis?” The boy stutters and Laura nods emphatically before making grabby hands for the box in question.

“Yep, Laura Hollis, that’s me,”

“Right, uh, I need just need you to sign for it,” the delivery boy replies, his earlier fear at the truly frightening thud that was likely because of the small girl in front of him, having been replaced by concern more than anything.

“Yes indeedy, I’ll sign whatever you wanna throw at me,”

“Just sign on the dotted line, please,”

 

With a final wave, Laura closes the door again, relieved that it had actually been the delivery person this time. She was still pretty sure she’d need to take Perry out to lunch or a trip down the cleaning aisle at the supermarket or something after the last time she’d come running at the door at the first sign of a visitor.

 

Laura tightens her grip on the box she’d just acquired and cranes her neck to see for sure that Carmilla’s door was completely closed. With a practiced caution from years of sneaking presents passed her dad, Laura creeps down the hallway towards her bedroom and eyeballs Carmilla’s door. She’s so busy watching the other door that she completely misses her own door handle and slams right into the door.

“Laura, what the hell is going on? Are you okay?” Carmilla calls out and Laura stops the frustrated growl at her own clumsiness, in order to respond sweetly and entirely too high of pitch.

“What? Nope, totally fine. Just stay in your room,”

“Right, because that was completely convincing,” Carmilla drawls and Laura pouts before realising that Carmilla can’t actually see her, what with her having followed her request and remained in her room.

 

Laura has another crack at opening her door and succeeds this time, quickly moving into her room and placing the box down on her bed to go in search of the proper supplies. She finds them before long and sets herself to the task of wrapping Carmilla’s birthday present. Upon looking down at her work, Laura is quite pleased with herself. The present is adequately wrapped and her gift wrapping skills are definitely improving with age.

 

“Alright, all done,” Laura says happily as she opens Carmilla’s door and spots her reading on her bed.

“Is it safe to come out now? I was really starting to worry I’d spend the rest of my life in here,” Carmilla asks with a tone of mock boredom, but closes her book and tosses it to the side in favour of making room for Laura.

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Laura scoffs and Carmilla looks taken aback.

“Oh, I’m being dramatic? Miss Sprints-into-the-door?”

 

Laura pouts when she realises that Carmilla is right and instead of admitting as such, she crosses her arms in a huff and looks away.

 

“Don’t think that pretending to get all huffy is going to make me forget that you’re obviously hiding something from me,” Carmilla prods, wrapping Laura tighter in her arms and squeezing slightly to get a reaction.

“I wasn’t hiding anything, I was wrapping your birthday present before you got to see it,” Laura replies matter-of-factly and goes back to pouting, but that doesn’t stop Carmilla from noticing that she hasn’t exactly been trying to escape.

 

“How did you even know it was my birthday? I don’t recall telling you that yet,” Carmilla questions and Laura turns to her with a scoff.

“Uh, former fangirl here, hi. Who do you think made the most popular birthday gifset for your birthday last year?”

Laura finishes her statement and points to herself with a proud look on her face, briefly remembering how happy she was when she topped Karnsteins_Number1 on Tumblr for most notes. It was truly a battle for the ages.

 

“Wait a minute, what do you mean ‘former’?” Carmilla asks, rather offended at the insinuation.

“Hmm?” Laura smiles innocently and leans back to kiss her.

“Laura, what do you mean ‘former’?”

 

~

 

“So, who’d like to lose their vocal cords first?” Carmilla asks cheerily but slouches in her seat when her threat has no visible effect on her friends and a truly dreadful chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ begins.

 

Carmilla dutifully puts on a smile while the singing occurs and quickly leans forward to blow out the candles on her birthday cake. It is a rather pretty cake, Perry had taken the time to decorate it with several detailed constellations and she’d be lying if she said she didn't appreciate it.

 

She was full of appreciation, right up until the moment in which she noticed that she’d missed a candle. Slightly annoyed and mildly inconvenienced, Carmilla takes another deep breath and tries to blow out the final candle. She succeeds, at least for a second until the flame flickers back to life. That, coupled with the fact that the people gathered around her were beginning to snicker tipped Carmilla off that maybe she’d be duped.

 

“Come on, Carm. I'm sure you’ll get it this time,” Laura can barely contain her laughter and Carmilla looks her in the eye before reaching out to grab the candle and dumping it in the nearest drink.

“Bro,”

The closest drink apparently belonging to Kirsch, and Carmilla smiles in satisfaction.

“Look at that, Sweetheart. You were right after all,”

 

~

 

Carmilla really shouldn’t have been surprised that if Laura had gone to that much trouble to keep her present hidden from her, she would no doubt also make sure that hers was the last present that was opened.

 

“Here you go, Carm,” Laura beams and hands over the poorly wrapped present. Carmilla knew Laura was rather skilled in some aspects of life, but apparently, gift wrapping was not one of those aspects.

 

“All finished sneaking around with this thing like an attractive, little goblin?” Carmilla smirks and notices both the various looks of confusion on the faces of her friends, and the pout on her girlfriend.

“Hey, you’re my favourite attractive, little goblin?” Carmilla offers with a cheesy smile and Laura rolls her eyes but gives in and kisses Carmilla softly.

 

“Alright, that’s enough of that. Open up this elusive present of yours,” Mattie interrupts and gestures down to the present partially forgotten in Carmilla’s lap. Carmilla grumbles but pulls back from Laura in order to finally open her present. Making quick work of the truly horrendous wrapping job, Carmilla is left staring down at the box in surprise.

 

“Is this what I think it is?” Carmilla asks quietly and Laura nods.

“Yep, INFMETRY Star Projector. I saw how disappointed you were the when you wanted to look at the stars the other night but it was cloudy out. So I thought of the next best thing, now whenever you feel like looking at the stars, you can just plug this bad boy in and you’re good to go,” Laura confirms but starts to grow shy as she looks at the genuine look of amazement on her girlfriend’s face.

 

“This is amazing, Laura. I love it,” Carmilla says through the ever increasing smile on her face.

 

“As touching as all of this is, I’d quite like to move onto the adult portion of this evening. I’m assuming there’s some decent alcohol around here somewhere?” Mattie asks before breezing away.

 

~

 

“Oooh, looks like those noodle limbs aren’t quite working for you this time,” A heavily intoxicated Carmilla yells as Danny misses another cup.

“Carmilla, I’ve missed two shots. That’s literally the same amount of shots that you two have gotten in,” Danny retorts and earns a scoff from Carmilla.

 

“Keep telling yourself that, you big limb noodle,” It’s entirely possible that Laura is even more intoxicated than Carmilla is. She misses her next shot by a significant margin and the other two, far less intoxicated Beer Pong participants, exchange a concerned glance.

 

“Put them out of their strange, drunken misery, babe,” Danny says and Kirsch smiles before pumping his fist against his chest and sinking the final shot.

 

“Damnit, I’m telling you, it’s all that wingspan,” Carmilla slaps a hand on the table as Laura grudgingly downs the contents of the last cup. The empty cup falls out of her hand, but the strange look on Laura’s face has Carmilla concerned.

 

“Bathroom,” Laura manages to say and Carmilla understands immediately, snapping into action as fast as her drunk limbs will carry her. She quickly guides Laura towards the bathroom and just has enough time to lift the toilet seat and pull Laura’s hair back before the girl in question begins to vomit up her half of the Beer Pong loss.

 

After a few moments of heaving, Carmilla continues to rub Laura’s back until the girl smiles weakly over her shoulder.

“Hey,”

“Hey,” Carmilla replies, suddenly stone cold sober and wondering how someone that had just had her head in a toilet bowl three seconds ago can possibly look this spectacular.

“I hope this whole vomiting thing didn’t ruin your night,”

 

Carmilla just shakes her head and pulls the girl closer to her chest and sighs when Laura relaxes into the embrace.

 

“Hey, Carm?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think you could sing something for me again?” Laura asks and Carmilla smiles.

“Of course I can, Sweetheart,”

 

Carmilla is not at all surprised at the first song that pops into her head, but despite knowing it won’t sound as good without a guitar backing her up, she begins to sing.

“I met you in the dark, you lit me up

You made me feel as though, I was enough

We danced the night away, We drank too much

I held your hair back when

You were throwing up,”

 

Laura giggles softly at the similarity to their current situation and Carmilla continues to sing with a soft smile on her face.

 

“Then you smiled over your shoulder

For a minute I was stone-cold sober

I pulled you closer to my chest

And you asked me to stay over

I said, I already told you

I think that you should get some rest,”

 

Laura snuggles closer into her arms, enjoying the vibration of Carmilla’s chest as she sang for her.

“I knew I loved you then

But you'd never know

'Cause I played it cool when I was scared of letting go

I knew I needed you

But I never showed

But I wanna stay with you

Until we're grey and old

Just say you won't let go

Just say you won't let go,” Carmilla decides not to push her luck too much more and finishes at the chorus, leaning down to rest her chin on top of Laura’s head.

 

“Thanks for sticking with me, Carm,” Laura murmurs and Carmilla presses a light kiss to the top of Laura’s head.

“You, Laura Hollis, are absolutely amazing. I promise you no amount of vomit would ever change my mind about that,”

 

As it to test her resolve on that statement, Laura suddenly lurches forwards and begins to throw up once again. Carmilla shakes her head with a sigh and returns to her earlier position of holding Laura’s hair and rubbing smooth circles on her back.

 _‘You’re lucky I love you,’_ Carmilla thinks to herself and immediately tenses before realising that she was pretty sure that was actually in her head.

 

“Oh God,” Carmilla breathes, unsure of how to process her apparently determined feelings for the girl in front of her.

“What's wrong?” Laura manages to pull herself together once again and begins to turn again at her girlfriend’s sudden distress.

“Nothing, I was just freaking out because I thought I accidentally told you that  I love you,” Carmilla explains without thinking and her eyes widen at the sudden silence.

 

“Wait, fuck. I didn’t mean to say that. God, I hope you’re too drunk to remember this,”

“I think I’m ready for bed, Carm,” Laura mumbles sleepily, apparently finally succumbing to the alcohol she’d consumed.

“Right, yeah, of course,” Carmilla mumbles, tossing up whether to pray to God or Satan that what just happened goes over well.

  



	21. Comment Commentary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla and the gang go through a segment of Comment Commentary and checkout the most recent conspiracies within the fandom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been like a month ago, my bad. I had my birthday, it was hella fun, I got my friend to cook for a bunch of us and we played games for the night. My friends and I are starting a D&D campaign Uni started back up, and that's really got me questioning my sleep schedule like nothing else. 
> 
> Have fun with this one, guys. To be honest, I'm tired so I'm not putting too much in the notes. Hit me up with some questions, or whatever's crossing your mind, and we can have a chat in the comments.

“We got another one,” Laf announces, brandishing their phone in order to show that they had, in fact, found another gifset. 

“Relationship conspiracy or another post highlighting Cupcake’s indiscretions?” Carmilla asks with a smirk, taking great enjoyment in the huff of annoyance that sounds from beside her. 

“Both actually, we hit the jackpot on this one,” Laf replies, turning to show the screen before beginning to read the caption and comments on the post. 

 

_ Yet more proof that Hollstein are   _ ~~_ doing the deed _ ~~ _  dating. _

**The girl’s got more hicky than skin.**

**Come on, guys. Maybe someone else gave them to her?**

**Pfft, you really think Blabbermouth Hollis wouldn’t give up the goods if she was dating anyone but Carmilla? Obviously they are just keeping it a secret, but they are defs banging.**

 

“Okay, rude. I am not a blabbermouth,” Laura states indignantly and Carmilla scoffs at her. 

“Sure, like you didn’t plaster your last relationship all over your blog,” 

“It is just me or do you sound a little jealous about that? You also totally just admitted that you used to pay attention to my blog,” Laura grins as she catches Carmilla out. The girl in question simply rolls her eyes but there is a definite tinge of red on her face. 

 

“How much longer are you gonna keep the fanbase hanging anyway? It’s obvious you guys are together now, I mean, you’re really not as subtle as you think you are, all that’s really missing is the official confirmation,” Laf asks as they adjust the camera slightly, and JP moves around the space adjusting things here and there. 

 

“I don’t know, I guess it just hasn’t come up yet. Honestly, I’m surprised that no one in the office has let it slip yet,” Laura shrugs and Laf lights up. 

“Are you giving permission to let it slip?” 

“I didn’t say that,” Laura amends quickly, knowing that she does not want to open up that can of tweets. 

 

“Say what you’re really thinking, Sweetheart. You’re surprised Mattie hasn’t pitched our relationship as the next marketing campaign,” Carmilla comments and Laura raises her hand in defense.

“Okay, I don’t expect her to do that. It just that she was really into the idea of Hollstein and our relationship, I mean, she’s not wrong either. It would bring in a huge amount of attention for the channel,” 

 

“My ears are burning, and even the usual underlings aren’t making eye contact. I imagine that means that someone is talking about me,” Mattie’s voice fills the space and Laura almost yelps when Mattie’s presence becomes known. 

“Oh, I’m so fired,” Laura mumbles quietly and leans in closer to Carmilla and further away from her boss. 

“Nothing you haven’t heard before Mattie, we were just discussing our surprise that our viewers haven’t caught wind of the relationship between myself and the munchkin currently trying to bury herself in the couch,” Carmilla explains and Mattie chuckles at Laura’s blatant display. 

 

“Yes, well. As I’m sure I’ve expressed already, the decision to go public is entirely yours. Good publicity or not, your private life is still private as far as I’m concerned,” Mattie responds and looks pointedly at Laura until she finally makes eye contact. 

“Relax, Dear. I’m hardly going to fire you for a little offhanded badmouthing. I’m employing you to speak your mind, am I not?” 

 

“Right, yeah. I really didn’t mean anything bad,” Laura speaks up and upon seeing that Mattie genuinely looks unfussed she begins to relax again. 

 

“What are you down here for anyhow, Mattie?” Carmilla speaks this time, lounging comfortably on the couch, but as watchful as ever. 

“I simply felt like sitting in today, I’ve found myself with some free time and I thought it fitting to visit my favourite sister and her sweetheart,” Mattie answers, settling herself down in a nearby chair, close enough to continue the conversation but not close enough that the camera could pick up her presence. 

 

“I’m your only sister, but I’ll take the compliment. Speaking of which, we need to start shortly,” Carmilla points out drily, but she does take comfort in the knowledge that Mattie was here simply to spend time with her. Sure enough, Laf gives Carmilla the signal and she settles in to start the video. 

 

“Welcome back to Silas, I’m Carmilla Karnstein, and this is Comment Commentary. Joining me is Silas’ lovely new addition, Laura Hollis, and everyone’s favourite Dude-Bro, Wilson Kirsch,” 

 

“I’ve been here a little while now, but thank you for that compliment,” Laura replies with a smile. 

 

“Why you gotta first name me like that, Broody Bro?” Kirsch questions but when Carmilla shrugs him off he pouts but goes back to looking at the device in his hands. 

 

“I’m sure by now that everyone knows how Comment Commentary works, but just in case we’ll do a quick rundown. It’s quite simple really, here on Com Com we go through the comments that have been left by you guys on the last few videos that have been posted and we comment on them. Funnily enough, that pretty much covers the whole segment, so let’s get into it, shall we?” Carmilla flips host mode on in full effect before turning to Laura to let her start with a comment. 

 

“ _ Grumpy_TeddyBear _ commented on our Two Truths & a Lie video, ‘Never underestimate the power of fangirling, Carm.’ Honestly, I’m in agreement with them there,” 

 

“Okay, yeah, maybe I should have put a little more thought into coming up with stories that I hadn’t talked about before, but I wasn’t exactly expecting the Sherlock of Shipping over here to have that much dirt on me,” Carmilla responds and looks pointedly at Laura. 

“Number #1 fan, Carm. Number #1 fan,” 

 

“My turn, _ 61wisampa _ commented on the Couch Chat video, ‘Laura the Catapult Master,’ I definitely agree with that one, Viewer Bro. I still haven’t made the shot properly, but Little Nerd is nailing it,” Kirsch offers a fist towards Laura who bumps it in return with a smug grin on her face, prompting Carmilla to roll her eyes at the display. 

 

“A comment from  _ HollisHotness _ , excellent screen name by the way, ‘My favourite Silas moment to date, is Laura crash tackling Carmilla off the dock,’ You might have enjoyed it,  _ HollisHotness _ , but the bruise I had after that was bigger than her ego,” 

 

“Hey, just cause you’re all huffy about that doesn’t mean you can insult my perfectly respectable sized ego,” Laura protests but her anger quickly evaporates and is replaced by a wide smile. 

“Besides, that’s my favourite moment from one of our videos as well. The sore shoulder was definitely worth seeing the look on your face as you heard my footsteps approaching,” 

 

“My earlier statement still stands, Cupcake,” Carmilla replies but smiles, all the same, she’d never admit it out loud, but Laura had taken her by surprise with that ambush of hers. 

 

“ _ Mightywiz  _ says, ‘Fucking Awesome’. All capitals, short and sweet, I can dig it,” Kirsch reads, passing it over for someone else to choose. 

 

“ _ Me _ commented, ‘don’t you hate it when you just can’t keep your gayness on the low? It’s just the worst.’ I know Laura does, Me,” Carmilla winks at the camera and Laura rolls her eyes before muttering,

“Context, context was important on that one,” 

“ _ Grumpy_TeddyBear _ is nailing it with the comments lately. This one was commented on the Hollstein Q&A video. ‘Ok, either Mattie or LaF chose the questions... or probably both,’” Kirsch reads and the three hosts look behind the camera to the people in question. 

 

“I’ll happy to admit that it was a joint effort,” Mattie pipes up smoothly, going so far as to accept a high five from Lafontaine. 

 

“According to  _ Noneqaf _ , ‘Carm is the most whipped person in HISTORY OF EVER!! Damn, girl, find some chill!’ Very enthusiastic, that one,” Laura reads and Carmilla is immediately up in arms. 

 

“Pfft, whipped? Have you seen any of the other couples in the office? I mean, couples, the couples in the office,” Carmilla starts off indignant, but trips up slightly when she realises that they haven’t announced their newly formed relationship to the viewers yet.

 

“You’re calling the rest of us whipped? You threw a party for Little Nerd her first week here. Sorry, Carmsicle, but you take the cake on that one,” Kirsch chimes in and Carmilla glances around to see the various crewmembers behind the room nodding in agreement. 

 

“I hate you all,” Carmilla grumbles and sinks down in her chair, warranting a reaction from Laura.

“Awww, even me, Carm?” 

“You know I could never hate you, Sweetheart,” Carmilla amends and realises her mistake as soon as Laura’s teasing smile turns into one of victory. 

“I think that settles that argument, Carm is easily the most whipped person in the history of ever. Nice call,  _ Noneqaf _ ,” 

 

“Goddamnit, can someone read another comment out please?” Carmilla exclaims and Kirsch shrugs in response. 

“Can do, here’s one more from  _ Grumpy_TeddyBear _ , ‘My problematic favs are still in denial of the fact they are dating *sigh*,” 

“I’m starting to feel a little targeted here, guys,” Carmilla mutters at the same time that Laura stops. 

“Hey, I’m not problematic. Am I?” 

“Look on the bright side, Little Nerd. At least they said you were their favs,” Kirsch points out, probably trying to divert the attention as quickly and as smoothly as possible. 

 

“Well, I think it’s best to end with an adequate amount of confusion, so that’s all for Comment Commentary today. Don’t forget to follow us all on social media, like and subscribe. If you’d like the chance to be featured on the next Com Com, make sure you get commenting. We’ll see you guys again soon,” 

 

~

 

“You want to do what?” Laura asks, if not the second time, then definitely the third. 

“I want to do a Character Day,” Carmilla repeats, unfazed by the apparent confusion among the rest of the hosts. 

 

“Come on, people. You’re all literally employed by an internet based company. How have you never come across this concept before? I create a character for you, slap some backstory in there and we all act out challenges and dares for the day,” Carmilla begins to explain, apparently done with the waiting aspect. 

 

“Why is this something you’d want to do though? It’s your day to do pretty much whatever you want at the company’s expense, where’s the chaos? Where’s the deviance?” Laura questions, and Carmilla chuckles. 

 

“Okay, I feel like we need to have a chat about what you think I like to do in my spare time. The point of this exercise though, is that I have the entire day to manipulate and mess with all of my coworkers. Does that seem a little truer to character for you, Cupcake?” 

 

“That’ll do it, yeah,” 

  
  
  
  
  



	22. Tricks and Tweets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla has a hell of a day, and Laura is most definitely along for the ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, me again. Hopefully you don’t all hate me by now, I do apologise for the last several months of waiting. I’ve had a ridiculous amount going on, but I finally finished a new chapter for you guys. Let’s review shall we?
> 
> I’m currently up to my neck in Dungeons and Dragons, and my campaign that I started has gone well, we’ve had a few sessions that really revealed a lot about us. The four sessions we’d had can be summed up simply by, Murder, Monkeys, Frog Monsters, and Talking Trumpets. I’m also playing in another campaign run by Fraser, and I’m in the process of writing a campaign I like to refer as, ‘Gay Camelot’. When I’m not doing any of that, I’m 22 episodes into Critical Role, and oh my sweet lord, that show is amazing. I’d love to talk about any of the DnD things I just mentioned, so if anyone is interested, you should totally hit me up. 
> 
> As far as Uni goes, I just finished my last piece of assessment for the Trimester and I’ve got about a month off. Turns out I’m pretty good at Poetry, but that’s about it in terms of exciting news on my education. 
> 
> My phone got smashed a few weeks ago, and three phones and many hoops later, I finally as a functional, slightly disappointing replacement phone. I also lost most of my photos and all of my contacts, but whatevs. 
> 
> In other news, I got a new tattoo, I’m be visiting my hometown again in a few weeks, I’ve started learning boxing/MMA, and I’ve become close with some people that I knew but didn’t interact with much and that’s made me extremely happy as of late. Harriet, Ethan, Chris are all lovely people that are now very important to me, and I’m in the early stages of moving into a new place with them. Through a bit of light prodding from Chris, I’ve joined his trivia team and we thrash the competition on a weekly basis. Chris and I have just been spending a ridiculous amount of time together in general, and my sleep schedule is so backwards it’s not even funny. 
> 
> As far as this story goes, I’ve still got a lot planned, but I need to bury myself in my Carmilla Big Bang story or it won’t end up finished. Rest assured, I’ve still got plenty in store for Poison, it just might be a little while before I can update again. Hopefully the slightly longer chapter makes you all hate me less and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Anywho, enjoy.

“Put the donut down, Wilson,” Laura growls and the boy in question immediately drops the baked good and takes a step back with a look of fear on his face. As he does so, the stony look on Laura’s face evaporates and gives way to a bright smile.   
  
“Thanks, Kirsch,” Laura says before picking up the donut and biting into it.   
  
“It’s nice to see someone else putting the pup in his place for a change,” Mattie comments, sipping a dark red liquid from the glass in her hand. She then turns her attention to where her sister is gaping open mouthed at Laura.   
“Do contain yourself there, Kitty Cat. No one needs to see your lady boner every time the wolf exerts some dominance,”   
  
Laura giggles at the statement and Carmilla snaps her mouth shut with a glare in Mattie’s direction. It’s during that moment of glaring that Carmilla catches sight of a red ribbon poking out from one of the higher shelves of the lunchroom.   
  
Without another word, Carmilla begins to stalk over in the direction of the marker, and Mattie mistakes this as Carmilla reacting to what she’d said. The older vampire smiles in amusement but quickly tilts her head when Carmilla completely ignores her on her way past.   
  
Carmilla grins in victory when she reaches up to snag the ribbon between her fingers, but before she has a chance to fully claim the ribbon for her team she feels familiar hands sliding up her waist. Much to Carmilla’s surprise, she finds herself being spun around by those hands and pulled down to a pair of even more familiar lips.   
  
Carmilla is so distracted by Laura’s sudden advance that she doesn’t notice when one hand sneaks out to pluck the ribbon from Carmilla’s hand and passes it behind them to Kirsch.   
  
When Laura pulls back from the kiss, Carmilla looks dazed and she quickly turns around to see that Kirsch has the ribbon firmly in hand and is holding it high above his head, just about of reach of an irritated Mattie.   
  
“Wait a minute, that ribbon was mine. You little cheater,” Carmilla protests and Laura gives her an innocent look.   
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I clearly got the ribbon,”   
“You’re lucky you’re cute, cause you’re fucking cheating,” Carmilla states and Laura grins. Before Carmilla can react, Laura takes off running, swiping the ribbon as Kirsch holds it out and continues out of the hallway.   
  
“Goddamnit,” Carmilla calls out as she takes off running after Laura in the hopes of catching her before she makes it to her team’s drop off point. She’s still a few seconds too late, and she is left to deal with the smug overly satisfied look on her girlfriend’s face. One brightside to the situation seems to be that JP had managed to find a ribbon for their team as well.   
  
“Good work, Short Stack,” Carmilla says and JP beams for a moment.   
“Yes, well. Our team was doing quite well as far as the competition is concerned, however I do believe that the last ribbon that Miss Hollis acquired has pushed the Werewolves ahead,”   
  
Carmilla turns to watch as the wolf in question does a victory dance out the door, she’s about to follow when she notices that Lafontaine is perched on the countertop and seems to be losing their shit over something on their phone.   
  
“What’s got you so entertained, Gingersnap?”   
  
“Someone made a gifset on Tumblr, it’s golden,” Laf wheezes through their laughter and holds their phone out for Carmilla to inspect. Carmilla’s face deadpans when she reads the caption, **‘Wet!Carmilla,’** followed by gifs of Carmilla saturated from the Two Truths video, Carmilla drenched after getting two buckets of water dumped over her, and Carmilla staring at Laura in their first Couch Chat together.   
  
“Fucking shitposters,” Carmilla growls and Laf loses it all over again after snapping a picture of Carmilla’s displeased face. Carmilla sighs and walks out, already dreading what Laf might do with that photo they took.    
  
After a seemingly calm span in the office, Carmilla pauses her search for the ribbons riddled around the place to check her phone. It’s at the point that she reads the text from Laura that she knew she was in for something.   
  
_‘Check your Twitter, babe. Try not to kill Laf,’_  
  
Sure enough, when Carmilla goes into her mentions, she finds that Lafontaine had in fact tagged her in a photo.   
  
**Broody Pants finally saw the Wet!Carmilla post.** **  
**  
Carmilla slaps her hand over her face and groans, before an idea pops into her mind.   
  
~  
  
By the time Carmilla has her idea in order, she’s sneaking up on Laura in the employee common room. The smaller girl doesn’t notice until Carmilla appears by her shoulder, smiling at the small yelp of shock Laura released.   
“Hey,”  
“Hey,”  
  
“I’ve been thinking, how about we give them something worth mentioning me about?” Carmilla suggests, showing Laura the tweet that she’d already constructed, complete with the photo Mattie had taken, _#hollstein_ , and a lovely little confirmation caption.   
  
“I think that’s a great idea,” Laura replies with a dazzling smile, turning around to press a kiss to Carmilla’s lips. Carmilla pulls back after a moment, a dopey smile on her face, and looks back down at the phone. With a final glance at the various people around the room, Carmilla publishes her tweet and snaps into motion.   
  
“So, I’ve also been thinking that we should take the rest of the day off. Right now, immediately,” Carmilla continues, lacing her hand with Laura’s and pulling her along gently but quickly.   
  
“What, why?” Laura asks, but the answer becomes obvious when they begin to hear whoops and cries of, “finally,” from some of their coworkers.   
“Okay, fair, but what about the competition? My team was winning,”   
  
“It’s entirely possible that someone may have stolen all of the markers out of the boxes,” Carmilla replies with a wolfy grin and Laura scoffs.  
“Carm,”   
“I’ll make it up to you later, I promise,”   
“You’re lucky you’re cute,”   
  
~  
The drive home turned out to be a torturous one, at least for Carmilla. Laura seemed to have really taken to her character role of an alpha, she also didn’t seem to have a problem with showing that. Laura didn’t miss a single opportunity with getting handsy in the car, and by the time they pulled into the driveway, Carmilla’s restraint was down to a thread.   
  
Laura’s lips were already on Carmilla’s when they reached the door, Carmilla took the opportunity to push Laura into door with enough force to elicit a moan, as she uses her other hand to unlock the door.   
  
Carmilla tucks the keys back into her pocket and runs her hands down Laura’s body until she reaches her thighs and picks her up, prompting Laura to wrap her legs around her waist. Carmilla moves her attention to biting and nipping at the skin of Laura’s neck as she walks them towards her room. She can’t imagine Laura would be in the state of mind to argue over which bed they wanted to use with the way Laura is grinding against her stomach.   
  
Which a final, particular hard bite, Carmilla unwraps Laura’s legs and tosses her onto the bed. She maintains eye contact as she begins shedding her clothing as quickly as possible and Laura does the same. Sufficiently free of clothing, Carmilla descends upon Laura, crawling towards her on the bed and meets her in a kiss once more.   
  
The sounds coming from Laura is enough to put a smile on Carmilla’s face as she begins to dip lower with her kisses, approaching Laura’s hips when she feels Laura’s hands pulling her back up. Before she has a chance to protest, Laura have Carmilla flipped on her back and suddenly, Carmilla wouldn’t have it any other way. Laura doesn’t waste time bringing Carmilla to the brink.    
  
Laura feels Carmilla’s fingers tighten in her hair at the same time her muscles tense and she lets out a cry as she falls apart. Laura helps Carmilla ride out her high before she moves back up her body to check if she’s still among the land of the living.   
  
“You okay there, Carm?” Laura asks in a husky voice and Carmilla nods as she catches her breath.   
“Good, cause I’m going to need you for this next part,”   
  
Carmilla tilts her head in confusion but Laura gives her another quick peck and begins to move herself upwards. Carmilla quickly understands and scoots herself down with an eager smile as Laura lowers herself into position.   
  
Laura’s hands tighten against the top of the headboard as Carmilla’s tongue begins to work against her. Carmilla’s hands tighten on Laura’s thighs as the girl above her begins to move her hips in motion and grind down on her face. Laura’s movements become harder and more insistent, and as Laura’s hands move from the headboard to tangle in Carmilla’s hair, Carmilla’s grip tightens and she helps to guide Laura’s hips.   
  
Moans are still spilling from Laura’s mouth when Carmilla feels her thighs tense and she lets go, giving into the waves of pleasure surging through her. After a few moments, Laura comes back into her body and tries to move her legs over before she realises her mistake.   
  
Carmilla can only watch in amazement as Laura yelps and begins to flail her arms as she tries to regain her balance. She fails shortly after and falls into the empty space that she’d leant into, her back scraping slightly on the bedside table as she does.   
  
Carmilla attempts to contain her laughter as Laura thuds to the ground before popping back up indignantly.   
“What the hell, Carm? You pushed me off the bed,”   
  
“What? No I didn’t, we must have moved over more than we thought. You did that all on your own,” Carmilla scoffs before defending herself.   
  
“Okay, maybe I did, but you didn’t even try to help me, you asshole,” Laura exclaims and rolls her shoulder to survey the damage.  
“I didn’t get a chance to, one moment you were there and then the next you were on the floor,” Carmilla replies but a moment later she loses it again.   
  
“Now what are you laughing about?” Laura asks in exasperation and starts to get up, pushing Carmilla over so that she has space on the bed.   
“I just realised that you went from such a high to such a low in like 2 seconds,” Carmilla laughs and Laura pouts before whacking her on the shoulder.   
“Stop laughing at me,”   
  
“You’re right, you’re right, I’m sorry. Are you okay? Besides the bruise to your pride of course,” Carmilla starts off serious but soon begins to snicker again.   
“I did actually hurt myself, you jerk,” Laura retorts and points to her back.   
“I’m sorry, baby. You do have to admit that it was funny though,” Carmilla leans over to press a kiss to the scape that Laura now has on her back.   
  
“You’re lucky I love you, otherwise you’d totally be sleeping on the floor,” Laura grumbles and settles on her stomach to enjoy Carmilla’s apology when she feels her tense.   
“Did you just say what I think you said?”  
“What? That I’d make you sleep on the floor?” Laura asks, and Carmilla leans back over to look at Laura’s face.   
  
“I didn’t mean that and you know it,” Carmilla replies and Laura chuckles.   
“I said, ‘I love you’. Is that what you were referring to?”   
“That’ll do it, yeah,” Carmilla mutters as she takes the words in.   
  
“I’m sorry it took me so long to say, I know you already said it on your birthday,” Laura continues and she smiles at the look on Carmilla’s face.   
“I knew it, I knew you heard me that night,”   
“Of course I did, I was drunk, not deaf,” Laura responds and shakes her head.   
  
“Oh, right. Well, I guess we’re on the same page then,” Carmilla mumbles as her cheeks flame.   
“I love you, you big idiot,” Laura says softly as she leans over to kiss Carmilla.   
“I love you too, Laura,”   
~  
  
“Carm, I get we’re kind of famous and all, but I don’t think we really need any nudes leaking,” Laura says with a tilt of her head when Carmilla clicks into the camera app on her phone.   
“Oh hush, I’m being perfectly innocent. Now show me that gorgeous smile of yours,” Carmilla pulls the blanket up a little further over their naked forms and takes a picture. On her part, Carmilla has a smug smile on her face, while Laura is blushing vividly but she does indeed sport a gorgeous smile.   
  
Carmilla goes through the motions of posting the photo to Twitter with the caption,  
  
**Just in case anyone still has their doubts.**  
  
The vibrating of Carmilla’s phone interrupts the two and Carmilla kisses Laura on the head before climbing out of bed. Carmilla curse quietly when she sees that her mother is calling and quickly shrugs on her favourite bathrobe, something that thoroughly amuses Laura, and answers the phone.   
“Hello, Mother. Sorry to keep you waiting,”   
  
“It’s hardly a common occurrence, but that’s of no concern. I’ve recently been informed that you and the Hollis girl have made your relationship public,” Lilita replies and Carmilla quickly slips out of the room before answering.   
“Yes, we have. Is something the matter?”   
“No, I suppose not. In fact, Matska has informed me that this new endeavour of yours is proving to be quite prosperous for the channel’s popularity,”   
  
Carmilla thinks for a moment before she responds, not quite sure where her mother’s intentions in all of this lay.  
“That’s good to hear,”   
  
“Yes, however, I’m sure I don’t need to inform you that this could also prove to be dangerous. The ratings are strong now, but if this relationship of yours were to impact that negatively, well I’m sure you can imagine how displeased I would be,” Lilita warns, her tone elusive but her meaning all too biting.   
  
“Yes, Mother. I understand,” Carmilla replies her jaw tense at the implication, her back leaning against the wall.   
“Excellent, I’m also glad to see that the dreadful business with the Ell girl is over. Never the matter, I do hope that you’re happy, my darling girl. You know I only want what’s best for you,”   
  
“I know, Maman,” Carmilla sighs, glad that her mother seems happy enough, but not entirely unscathed from the whole interaction.   
  
“It’s been some time since we’ve had dinner together, hasn’t it? Perhaps we should have a family dinner, it would be nice to have you in the same room as Matska and your brothers. It’ll even give me a chance to meet Laura,” Lilita proposes but Carmilla stops for a moment, partially unnerved at the tone in which her mother had said Laura’s name.  
“Wait, brothers plural? Will’s back in town?”   
  
“He is, yes. I’ve managed to track William down for the time being,”   
“That is surprising,”   
“I’m assuming I have your compliance with this, dear?” Lilita asks, though there’s little room for objection.   
“Like a tiger with a toothache,”  
  
“Mmm, I shall have Matska make the arrangements for next week. Until then,” Lilita hums in slight disapproval but quickly shakes it off.   
  
“Goodbye, Mother,”   
“Goodbye, Carmilla,”   
  
Carmilla lets out a breath and leans her head back against the wall for a moment for gathering herself and heading back to her room. She finds Laura still lounging on her bed, however she seems to have drifting over more towards Carmilla’s side.   
  
“You okay?” Laura asks, and Carmilla tilts her head.  
“Peachy, how does family dinner with my mother sound?”   
“Like the stuff of nightmares, why?” Laura deadpans and Carmilla winces.   
“Yeah, not far of it. Guess what we’re doing next week?”    
  
~  
  
“What are you giggling about, love?” Carmilla asks, wrapping her arm around Laura’s waist and nuzzling into her.   
“Someone made a new addition to the Wet!Carmilla post,” Laura laughs and shows Carmilla that someone had in fact, added the photo she’d just posted.   
“Oh, for fucks sake,”   
  
  



	23. A Family Affair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla and Laura gear up for a family dinner, and the final sibling finally makes an appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, it's been a few months but who is counting? I'm counting, it's been 6 months, I'm an asshole. This chapter is pretty short but I didn't wanna neglect you guys any longer. 
> 
> As for me, boy have I had a lot going on. 
> 
> From the top, I got kicked out of Uni, moved out of the death trap that was my old place, moved in with Em, and sprained my ankle all in a matter of a few weeks. I got a job at the French Pattiserie a few minutes from my house. My mother came down to visit and went out to dinner to meet Em and Fraser. I got two new tattoos within a few days of each other, which was an experience let me tell you. I finally left the state for the first time to go to Melbourne for Pax with Em and Fraser, started learning French, and made friends with a bunch of Earpers, sprinkled in with a few Creampuffs. They are all insane but I love them to bits. I met Travis and Laura from Critical Role at Supanova and it was one of the best experiences I've had in quite a while. I've also decided to go to Clexacon in Vegas next year with previously mentioned Earpers, and I'm all geared up to meet Elise and Natasha. God help me. 
> 
> I guess that wasn't as much stuff as I thought, but whatevs. Enjoy, I'll try to get back to you again soon.

“You look gorgeous, Cupcake,” Carmilla sighs, knowing that Laura is fidgeting with her clothing again.  
“You’re not even looking at me,” Laura breathes but she steadies her hands as they stand outside their apartment waiting to be picked up and delivered to the mercy of Carmilla’s mother.  
“I don’t need to be, you’re always gorgeous,” Carmilla replies with a sly grin and Laura stares straight ahead as she realises she’d walked right into that. Laura huffs and brings a hand up to adjust her hair again, this time Carmilla snags her wrist lightly and gives her her full attention.  
“Your hair is fine as well, Sweetheart. Take a breath, there’s nothing to be worried about,”

“Yeah, right, nothing to be worried about. Nothing like meeting the woman that I’ve once heard described as ‘so terrifying, if she ever died Lucifer himself would pack up and hand over his throne,’ and I’m not talking about the charming, British, Lucifer either,” Laura does indeed take a breath, but it’s only to fuel her tirade.

Carmilla does scoff slightly but she remains composed and raises an eyebrow as she looks down at Laura.  
“Okay, we both know Mel loves to exaggerate. Also, I personally prefer Mazikeen, but whatever floats that nerdy boat of yours,”

It’s Laura’s turn to scoff this time, but she does begin to calm herself the longer she looks at Carmilla.  
“Just ‘cause you can take fashion inspiration from her, “  
“The ‘sexy, knife-wielding, demon from Hell,’ thing really does it for me too,” Carmilla smirks and Laura’s brow twitches with interest.  
“I’ll keep that in mind,”

“Speaking of demon from Hell,” Carmilla mutters as she stares behind Laura at the car that had just pulled up.

“Kitty! Did you miss me?” The young man poking his torso out of the sky roof looks like a more clean cut version of JP and Laura can only assume that this is the elusive Will that Carmilla had mentioned.

“With every bullet so far, you little weasel,” Carmilla replies but her blank face cracks into a smile as Will climbs out of the car and holds his arms out for a hug that Carmilla more or less accepts. The suit he’s wearing seems rather high-end so Laura begins to worry that she is far too underdressed, but at least that meant she wasn’t worried about being overdressed anymore.

“We’re going to be late, children,” Mattie’s voice sounds from the car, resulting in a smirk from Will, a sigh from Carmilla and a hurried, ‘sorry,’ from Laura. Will ducks back into the car, with Carmilla turning around to give Laura another reassuring glance. Laura nods her head and motions for Carmilla to head in, following closely behind her. As Laura settles in she sees that Mattie is sitting opposite them, the picture of both elegance and boredom, inspecting her fingernails. She looks up once they’re all settled and her eyes flick over Laura.  
“You look lovely, little moppet. Let’s just hope that’s enough to appease, Maman,”  
“You as well, Kitty Cat. Did you have to fight the spiders in your closet for the dress? I can’t remember the last time you dressed up for something,”

Carmilla hums in displeasure and Will looks expectantly at Mattie, as if waiting for a compliment of his own.  
“And what about me, Matska Dearest? Do I look charming, dashing, rugged perhaps?”

“You look like you stumbled onto the set of ‘Baby’s First Suit,’ though I suppose it’s nice to see you at least,” Mattie retorts and Will scowls.  
“You say the sweetest things,”

“So, the family gathering is apparently happening in the town car. Where’s the handsome brother?” Carmilla grins, though she is slightly curious, as Mattie scoffs and Will pouts.

“JP is waiting for us with Maman, William decided he wanted to come and greet the two of you. However, Maman being the woman she is, doesn’t exactly trust him not to make a break for it, so I was sent along as well,” Mattie explains and Will shrugs further into his seat.  
“Can’t say I blame him,” Carmilla mumbles and Will makes a face of agreement.

“In any case, Maman wants a nice dinner, so do try to keep it civil. I don’t know about you, but I don’t particularly need a repeat of last Christmas. The property damage reports I had to handle gave me headaches for days,” Mattie says, her eyes drifting off as if in memory. Laura looks around to see that Carmilla and Will are both doing the same. Laura clears her throat to try and break up the odd silence that formed. The siblings all break out of their thoughts with a look that can only be, ‘yikes’.

“Yes, well. I’ll try to keep the arson to a minimum if Firebug over here does,” Will replies and Carmilla narrows her eyes at her brother.  
“Besides, there are far more interesting things to talk about at the moment. You must be Laura, I’ve seen and heard quite a lot of you,” Will smiles and turns his attention to Laura.

Laura’s not quite sure what it is, but Will seems to make her inherently uncomfortable and his undivided attention on her now is slightly unnerving.

“Yep, that’s me,” Laura responds politely and Will tilts his head in curiosity, but there’s an animalistic quality to him.  
“Not as talkative as I thought you’d be. Has Kitty on you on a short leash, or do you just not want to talk to little old me?”

“Will,” Carmilla warns but Laura places a hand on Carmilla’s leg and gives her a lift squeeze.  
“Not at all, I guess I’m just a little nervous. From everything I’ve heard, your mother is intimidating, to say the least,”

“Nah, Maman’s a softie. You just have to stay far enough away from her is all,” Will smiles and leans back in his seat with his arms out over the back. Laura breathes out as puts distance between the two of them.

“I’m not surprised you think so, but not all of us are that lucky,” Carmilla comments and Will smirks.  
“You should really get out more, Sugar Puss. From the looks of it, the fresh air will do you good,”

Laura can feel the muscles in Carmilla’s leg tense beneath her hand but she stays put, despite the growl that leaves her body.

Will seems unhindered by this outward display of anger on his sister’s part, in fact, he seems to be revelling in it as he continues to muse.  
“I mean really, just jump on a plane and head for somewhere exotic. You can take your little, Tumblr Princess with you and everything. Unless of course, she’d rather go with me? Elle and I used to be quite close, she sometimes mentioned that you weren’t always completely satisfying, sis,”

Carmilla flinches and her eyes harden as she looks at the shit eating grin on her brother’s face. Laura feels her own temper beginning to flare up and she’s preparing to throw down with her girlfriend’s sibling, moving vehicle be damned, when Carmilla speaks again.

“You really don’t give a shit about any of us, do you? All you care about is getting the biggest kick you can at someone else’s expense,”  
“I’m not going to apologise for enjoying my life, just because the rest of you aren’t smart enough to get yourselves out from under Mother’s thumb. Has our socially damaged brother even scratched at experiencing something that isn’t draped in her shadow? Has Matska worked herself up enough to take an unscheduled lunch break? And you, have you finally managed to stop whimpering like a child every time she so much as scolds you?” Will leans forward again, this time the grin on his face twisting into something cruel.

Mattie sucks in an indignant breath but Carmilla is already beating her to the punch.  
“That’s big talk, Fresh Meat. You’d think you’d be a little more grateful, or at least respectful considering the fact that we’re the reason that you get to traipse yourself all over the globe in the first place. JP standing by for every beck and call, Mattie keeping the business running smoothly, and me, playing the part of the perfect, little plaything. The only reason she never bothers to look for you is because she’s always too busy tormenting the rest of us. So watch yourself, Will. You owe the three of us that much,”

Carmilla’s voice has gone cold and taken on a tone so menacing that if it weren’t for the hand gently caressing hers, Laura would genuinely be terrified. The two siblings stare each other down, and it’s Mattie that speaks next.  
“William, you’ve spent so much of your life claiming that you aren’t a complete waste of space, why don’t you prove it now and keep your mouth closed?”

Will whips his head towards Mattie but before he can say anything else, the car slows to a final stop and everyone in the vehicle comes to the realisation that they’ve arrived.

Laura is the first one out this time, and she stops short when she takes in the majesty of what looks closer to a mansion than a house.  
“I’m sure we’re both enjoying the views we have, Cupcake, but we do have somewhere to be,” Carmilla comments from behind her and Laura flushes before getting out of the car fully and straightening up. Laura moves over to the side and Carmilla joins her a moment later, threading her fingers through her own. Mattie exits next, which leaves Laura to think that Will must still be pouting. When he does finally exit the car, he shrugs his jacket back into place and tries to walk inside. Before he can, Carmilla catches his arm with her other hand.

“While it was nice to see you again, Will. After tonight, you should go back to disappearing, you’re clearly happier without the rest of us,”

Will glances down at her hand before pulling his arm away and sauntering off to where Laura can only assume is the entrance. She’s half surprised they haven’t had to deal with a giant moat and drawbridge yet with the sheer size of the place, as the rest of them make their way inside.

Somehow the place seems even bigger on the inside, and as Carmilla takes her through a hushed tour of the house, Laura no longer feels the need to question how Lilita Morgan was so happy to provide so much to her employees. Apparently, that was barely a drop in the bucket for the wealth she was sitting on. Carmilla seems a little hesitant to take Laura to what she can only assume is the sleeping wing, so she resolves to maybe visit Carmilla’s childhood room another day.

No doubt slightly later than they were meant to be, they finally arrive at the dining room, and Laura is taken back by several things. The first, the table is filled with plates of extravagant food, and at least three types of beverages. The second, Lilita Morgan is indeed far more imposing in person. The third, is an admittedly balding head and painfully familiar brown vest, with its occupant currently seated at the table.

“Dad!?”

 


End file.
